Meet the Board

Member Bio

John Daniels

Secretary

Board term: 2021 - 2024

John Daniels found his life changed when he visited what is now the Pope Francis Center, a daytime welcoming and warming center run by the Jesuit parish in downtown Detroit. Then near the end of his 43-year career at University of Detroit Mercy, he was working closely with homeless shelters, soup kitchens, literacy, and refugee centers to coordinate Service Learning. The guests at this downtown center struck him as so much like himself – trying to find a way to be useful – that he was drawn by the heart into solidarity with those on the streets.

That solidarity continued when he and Kathy, his wife since 1969, retired in Traverse City in 2009. A friend asked him to take an overnight shift at Bethlehem Lutheran, and he found his way into Safe Harbor.

John is the Board Secretary and Training Coordinator. He also helps recruit and coordinate weeks hosted by his church and other Catholic parishes. With them, he continues to find “Faith in Action,” and what the Jesuits call “Men and Women for and with others.”