About Us
Our Mission
To change lives in a spiritual environment that is both compassionate and disciplined as we provide housing for those experiencing homelessness, food for those experiencing hunger, and comfort for those experiencing addiction and suffering.
Our Vision
To become a model agency to provide services and resources to serve the least of these while seeking to expand the capacity to meet present and future needs in the most effective and efficient manner.
Our Beliefs and Principles
Helpful
We are called to care for “the least of these”. We are helpful by providing food, shelter, clothing, and care for the sick and by visiting those in jail.
Healing
We work to provide healing words, resources, and structure to all who come to us. The homeless, addicted, mentally ill, and people wounded by life’s circumstances need the opportunity to find healing. We work to ensure this is a safe healing atmosphere for all.
Excellence
We strive for the best business and ministry practices in every area of the organization. In our personal lives, we are expected to live a life that is blameless and carry ourselves with integrity.
God-Honoring
Everything that we do is to reflect the knowledge that God cares for all who come to us. Customers in our stores, residents in our programs, volunteers, staff, and anyone else should see the goodness of God’s blessings in all that we do.
Three Decades of Service
St. Matthew’s House began in 1987 when a bible study group followed a calling to bring food to a homeless population living in a nearby wooded area.
The “Task Force for the Homeless” began gathering contributions of both food and clothing, establishing the mission’s food pantry.
Throughout the years, community support has helped grow the small mission into a multi-faceted organization focused on spiritual change.
As a 501(c)(3), our unique social enterprise business model helps cover the administrative expenses for the organization, so donations go toward our program expenses.
Matthew 25: 35-36, 40
“For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
Today, St. Matthew’s House continues to run the original Emergency/Transitional Housing and Feeding Ministry along with its Justin’s Place Recovery Program, Collier County jail chaplain service, 6 thrift stores, a breakfast and lunch café that includes a full-service catering company, and retreat/conference center.
Touching Hearts
St. Matthew’s House works to eliminate the elements of poverty at their base. Our homeless shelter and feeding ministry have opened their doors to countless lives without taking a day off in more than a quarter century.
Transforming Lives
Through our numerous programs, including the Justin’s Place Recovery Program, our ministry is able to initiate a second chance at life for many facing their toughest times. With established faith-based principles and dedication we’ve been able to see hundreds of individuals and families regain their independence.
Our History
Late 1980’s:
Naples is a sleepy town on the idyllic Florida southwest coast. Mostly retirees and locals make up the population. Underneath the picturesque vista, however, is a forgotten group of homeless people. Desperate and starving, they have no hope until the day a group of parishioners studied the book of Matthew in the Bible, where Jesus explains to his disciples about how taking care of the needy is as important, if not more so than taking care of Him.
November 15th, 1988:
Within a few days of this Bible study, an article appears in the Naples Daily News about the homeless population living in the woods. The scripture fresh in their minds, the parishioners, dubbing themselves, “The Task Force for the Homeless”, begin taking soup out to these forgotten souls. The first Thanksgiving Day meal is served to the homeless and hungry a couple of weeks later.
Encouraged by the grateful response, the Task Force begins gathering contributions of food and clothing, then establishes a food pantry and launches a search to find a suitable location for a shelter to care for the homeless and hungry of our community.