Who we are …
We are a grassroots organization that works with 80 local congregations and community groups and 3,000 volunteers to provide Wintertime shelter and related services to the homeless. Our name is the latin word for “peace” and also an acronym for “People And Congregations Engaged in Ministry.”
What we do …
Each night during the Winter we provide a warm, welcoming, and safe shelter for some of the most vulnerable members of our community. We also provide meals and companionship. We assist many of our guests in moving forward into permanent housing through intensive case management.
Watch this three minute video to learn more about PACEM
PACEM in the NEWS
With less shelter space and more hotel rooms, PACEM adapts to COVID while planning winter homeless shelter
Charlottesville Tomorrow: Every year, a roaming homeless shelter opens for the winter months in the Charlottesville area. The local group PACEM sets up temporary lodgings for a week or two at a time in various churches around the city and…
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PACEM's 2020-21 Shelter Season
If you've followed PACEM since March 2020 then you know the extraordinary measures we've taken to keep our homeless guests sheltered. 9 months is longer than our normal shelter season yet we are still providing a version of it to…
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ORDER PACEM’S 12-month 2021 CALENDAR, featuring native birds of Albemarle County, Virginia
ORDER PACEM’s 12-month 2021 CALENDAR, featuring native birds of Albemarle County, Virginia, photographed by Henry Strauss. TO PURCHASE, please follow this link: https://pacemshelter.square.site/. All proceeds benefit PACEM Women's Shelter! "As Women’s Case Manager, it has been an honor to work…
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Solutions sought for homelessness challenges posed by pandemic
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (Charlottesville Tomorrow) – For Jim Bourn, a man from Brighton, Michigan, experiencing homelessness, Charlottesville is something of a mystery. “I’m lost here,” he said. Every night from March 23 to June 3, though, Bourn had a familiar place…
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Charlottesville shelter looks to extend female services for spring and summer months
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - An organization providing shelter for people in the greater Charlottesville area is trying to expand its services for women with no place to go in the spring and summer months. People and Congregations Engaged in Ministries (PACEM)…
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Answering the call: PACEM seeks to create a permanent women’s shelter
C-VILLE Weekly: Last August, Chinikqua Joseph’s Buckingham County home burned down. Thankfully, no one was injured or killed by the fire, but she, along with her mother and godmother, lost everything. They were homeless. While looking for housing, Joseph stayed…
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Secure Seniors Program is a success for the homeless
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Two local homeless advocacy nonprofits are seeing some success housing homeless seniors. PACEM is working with the group AIM and the two have developed a program to help seniors get into an affordable housing situation. It's…
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Spring/Summer 2019 Newsletter
TOPICS INCLUDE: Life Inside Our Shelters as Captured by Photographer Mai Shurtleff, The Director’s Column, the 2018-19 Season By-the-Numbers, A Success Story Download: Spring-Summer 2019 Newsletter
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Join us on April 28th for our annual Spring picnic
PACEM & ACE Contracting invite you to join us on April 28th for our annual Spring fundraiser. This year’s event will once again be held at the exquisite Barn at Pea Ridge Farm located in Afton, VA. Tickets are $75…
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Faith helped local guy "see" the homeless
For two weeks each January, Spring Hill Baptist Church in Ruckersville becomes home to 50 men who would otherwise be on the streets in sub-freezing temperatures. As a participant with People and Congregations Engaged in Ministry (PACEM), Spring Hill has…
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