There’s something sacred about a fresh start. For years, we at Mustard Seed Shelter quietly tucked donated pots and pans, towels, and mattresses into corners of our building—waiting for the right moment to help someone feather their new nest. What started in our basement has since grown wings.
Today, NEST is a program of the Saginaw Partnership Center, but it was born from the heart of Mustard Seed.
From the very beginning, we recognized that healing doesn’t stop at safe shelter. Many of our guests move from Mustard Seed into a home of their own—sometimes for the first time in their lives. Helping them begin again with dignity and care has always been a quiet but vital piece of our ministry.
We began with a small giveaway area in our basement, which later grew into multiple rooms in SS Peter & Paul Church. By 2019, with the help of volunteers, we moved into buildings on Ring and Burnham Streets in Saginaw—and gave this growing ministry a name that felt just right.
Just like a mama bird gently shaping her nest, our volunteers thoughtfully gathered items to help others feel home. That’s how NEST: Neighbors Enabling Success Together took flight.
Though NEST now lives at Partnership Center, it will always be part of the Mustard Seed story. We’re still cheering it on, still praying over each move, and still showing up when needed. Because that’s what neighbors do.
Together, we’re enabling success—one neighbor, one home, one fresh start at a time.
Today, the NEST Center serves as a beautiful in-between place for people rebuilding their lives. It’s a showroom where individuals transitioning out of homelessness can select:
Linens, dishes, pots and pans
Basic cleaning supplies and tools
Furniture and small appliances
Two warehouses and a pair of 40-foot shipping containers help us store, clean, and repair donations before they’re lovingly offered to their next owner.
With the help of Hopevale Church and their Can Do Crew, as well as our dedicated Move Team, NEST has supported an average of 10 families each month in creating a safe, functional home—many of them graduates of Mustard Seed Shelter.
In 2021, our board recognized that what was once a tiny, extra piece of our ministry had grown into something big, beautiful, and ready for even more. We joyfully gifted NEST to Partnership Center, an organization that had been walking alongside Saginaw’s most vulnerable neighbors for over 25 years – just like us.
For Partnership Center, NEST brings back a mission close to their organization’s heart – furnishing homes – something once offered through the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store. Now, with a modern approach and a deepened sense of collaboration, that mission lives on.
We’re still closely connected to NEST, and always will be. But today, the daily operations are run by the amazing team at Partnership Center.
Our work is made possible by the generous support of individuals, churches, clubs, organizations, and foundations. With 95 cents of every dollar going directly to our life-changing programs, your contributions make a tangible impact.
Our Mission: We water the seed of inner strength in women experiencing homelessness so they can make a better life for themselves and their children.