This week, most adults will go to work and go about their daily responsibilities, sleep in their own home, get up and do it all over again. We know it as the daily grind. 

After work this week, a handful of worshippers from First Church of Christ of Woodbridge will be meeting up with some new friends at a New Haven Church. They'll take turns preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner. They'll play cards, watch a movie, or just sit around and chat. At the end of the week, their 12 homeless friends will move on to another church and to it all again. It's their daily grind.

The new friends are made as part of a 16-week program run by New Haven's Columbus House and the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries called Abraham's Tent. Skip Borgenson of Bethany is on the Board of Directors at both Columbus House and the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries. He said that last year, when the city of New Haven failed to fund the overflow shelter, it left a crisis in New Haven. The two organizations got together and formed a team named Abraham's Tent to create additional beds to house the homeless during the winter months.

As part of Abraham's Tent, Columbus House choses 12 shelter inhabitants and takes them to a church or other house of worship for a week at a time. 

The name Abraham's Tent comes from the fact that Christianity, Judaism and Muslim faiths all come from the heritage of Abraham. Last year, 16 local congregations collaborated to provide breakfast, lunch, dinner and companionship for 12 homeless men for the week.

Since every congregation, including Woodbridge, doesn't have adequate facilities to house the homeless for the week and other congregations don't have the volunteer manpower, it requires a team effort. This week, The First and Summerfield United Methodist Church of New Haven is suppling the space, the First Church of Christ of Woodbridge is supplying the volunteers and Columbus House is providing homeless.

"They choose people who they feel will be appropriate. They are not mentally ill, they aren't drug addicts or alcoholics," Borgenson says. He calls Abraham's Tent life-changing.

Rebecca Allen, Director of Programs and Services at Columbus House says Abraham's Tent has been such an amazing experience, not just for the men participating in Abraham's Tent, but also for the volunteers. 

"They talk about the weather, they talk about sports, they talk about their experiences and that's the stuff that are basic life necessities," Allen says.

"The 12 men develop very close friendships with one another and the ICM volunteers," says Borgenson. "In fact, only one man from last year's dozen is homeless this year. The others have found housing, maybe transitional, but still, more permanent. They've started on their way back."

The men who are part of the Abraham's consider it a treat and according to Allen, they're conversing, they're smiling and they even look healthier.

"They're reconnecting with their family, taking stock in their life, it's amazing. It's one of those things that gets me through the dark days of winter," Allen says.

"Abraham's Tent is something for the men to look forward to. They've had a difficult time," Borgenson says.

He says many good things come out of the program.  

"They become a unit. Many things happened to those serving them, too. There are many lovely stories that cross the lines of faith. They find  similarities and it opens our eyes."

"There is an amazing spiritual component that happens with people individually, and not just with the guys," Allen says.

"It's hard to solve homelessness in four months, but the 16 weeks of participation in Abraham's Tent is life-giving," says Allen. "They tell me they get to sleep and that's one of those things that we just take for granted."