HOME | IHN at Alpha House

The mission of Alpha House is to support families experiencing homelessness in building a better future. Alpha House is Washtenaw County’s primary family shelter, and our goal is to offer immediate and life-sustaining support to these families as they work to secure permanent housing. Gimme Shelter is our annual fundraising event dedicated to celebrating our growing community response to family homelessness while acknowledging the challenges that lie ahead.

Because of all our wonderful supporters and sponsors, we surpassed our Challenge Match goal of $70,000 dollars. We are so grateful to every single person who made a donation to help families of Washtenaw County. We couldn't have done it without you!

As we approach the holiday season, we've been receiving many questions about what you can do to support Alpha House. We will be accepting Meijer gift cards in $25 increments ($25, $50, $100) to give to the families in our shelters to allow them to shop for holiday gifts for their children.

If you're interested in helping us to support families of Washtenaw County through our Holiday Wishes program, please know that our number one ask is gift cards. We're working to get more information regarding Holiday Wishes and hope to reflect that here soon. If you have any questions, please reach out to our Development Team at volunteering@alphahouse-ihn.org.

Thank you for your kindness and generosity!

Volunteer Newsletter

It has been a super busy couple of months with lots of good stuff going on. Here is a link to our latest Volunteer Newsletter. We are always so grateful for our volunteers! Interested in volunteering at Alpha House?

Volunteer Opportunities

Voices In To Frame

Voices in to Frame is a series of videos highlighting the voices and experiences of five Washtenaw County women who have either experienced homelessness and/or are trying to work within the system to uplift other women. We are grateful to Alfreda Rooks, Na'Esha Carter, Masharra Vawters, Kania Wright, and Shakira Nelson for inviting us into their stories.

Watch the introductory video on our

YouTube Channel: Voices in to Frame Introduction

Meet Kania Wright, a very courageous, loving, and compassionate woman. Listen to her full story here.

Na'Esha Carter very powerfully shares the dilemmas single mothers face, how do I care for both myself and my kids? How do I be both a mother and a father? How do I ask for help?

Alfreda Rooks serves as the Alpha House Board President as well as the Director of Community Health at Michigan Medicine. Alfreda shares words of encouragement and shares her hopes that home ownership becomes a reality for those experiencing housing insecurity.

Masharra Vawters serves as our Assistant Shelter Director. In this video, she shares her personal journey and experiences of housing insecurity and also tackles some of the stereotypes placed on Black women and the changes she has seen over the years in how Black women are learning to care for themselves.

Shakira Nelson shares how community violence in her neighborhood growing up led to housing insecurity. Those experiences plus others set her on a path to helping others in similar situations. Shakira serves as the Case Manager for Alpha House West.