Carpenter’s Shelter began in 1982 on a cold winter night when Father Tony Casey of Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria found one man sleeping in his car and another asleep in the doorway of the church. Believing that everyone deserves a warm, safe place to sleep at night, Father Casey welcomed the two men into the church and allowed them to spend the night. The next night, the men came back. With the help of two volunteers and ten cots, Father Casey opened the basement of the church to those in need of shelter from harsh winter weather. Blessed Sacrament’s basement provided shelter to those in need during the winter for six years, until the day the building was torn down. With the church gone and the demand growing for bed space, a small group of dedicated individuals founded Carpenter’s Shelter in 1988.

Since our inception, Carpenter’s Shelter has evolved from a small group of concerned citizens providing bedding on cold nights into a leader in finding solutions that permanently end and prevent homelessness.