For many of us, the return of the rain to our region after 81 days of sunshine marked nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

After going through the hall closet for a rain jacket or two, checking last year’s umbrella for tears and (perhaps) cleaning the gutters, the weather amounts to little more than a few drops on the head during the walk from the car to the office.

But for the often invisible homeless population on the Eastside, the drop in the mercury signifies a months-long struggle to stay warm and dry.

Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, an organization that collaborates with shelters and other organizations to advocate for the homeless, holds an annual event aimed at putting a figure on the area’s homeless population. On January 28, 2011, 2,422 people were counted outside between 2 and 5 a.m. and 6,382 were either in shelters or transitional housing.

Luckily, there are a host of groups dedicated to guiding those 8,804, and those who went uncounted, through the unrelenting elements.

Congregations for the Homeless, based in Bellevue, is one such agency.

Using a three-part approach that includes access to an emergency shelter, a case management system and subsidized housing, Congregations for the Homeless has seen a total of 319 men move into housing since 2006. The 2011 total of 67 nearly tripled the number from the first year.

Bruce Borremans has been with the agency since 2006 and has been front and center during its growth.

“Right off the bat, there were 30 guys in the shelter and we were moving people into housing,” he said.

The case management program recently launched a new opportunity not only for the homeless, but local residents as well.

Rather than writing a check or dropping off a bag of canned corn and other forgotten pantry items, people in Bellevue can now have a direct impact on the homeless population as a life coach.

For one hour per week, life coaches meet with an assigned individual and work in concert with the case management staff to provide support, advice and more importantly, a positive and accepting voice from the professional world.

“It gives them an opportunity to meet people from a different walk of life,” Borremans said. “A case manager may have a case load of 25 guys. But the life coaches only work with one person.”

The benefit for the coaches is apparent as well. Borremans said many of the coaches are former business professionals who like the men they work with, are offered a new perspective through the relationship.

“They get to meet someone they probably never would meet,” he said. “It gives them a chance to help move someone forward.”

And if only for a short while, it’s nice and dry.

For more information on becoming a life coach or volunteering with Congregations for the Homeless, call Bruce Borremans at 425-985-7233 or visit them online at cfhomeless.org.

Contact and submissions: jsuman@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/bellevuereporter