Haven founder Don Chalfant dies at 93 The Iowa native founded The Haven in Battle Creek with his late-wife Wilma in 1956.

Dillon Davis | Battle Creek Enquirer

The way the story goes, the Rev. Don Chalfant came to Battle Creek with $100 in his pocket.

It was 1956. Chalfant and his wife, Wilma, had four children and determination to start a mission to help homeless men.

Together, they built The Haven of Rest Ministries into one of the area's largest faith-based nonprofits.

"They saw the need way back, and they just poured their life into it," their daughter Sandra Anderson said Monday.

Don Chalfant died Saturday. He was 93.

Chalfant had been struggling with health issues since late April when he fell in the driveway at his Winter Haven, Florida home, members of his family said this week.

During his 35 years in managing the Haven, the organization expanded to add services for women and children, to serve three meals a day to the area's needy as well as to provide addiction, employment and childcare supports.

Chalfant was born Aug. 15, 1923 on a farm in northwest Iowa. He married Wilma Meyer in 1944. The two remained married for 43 years until her death in 1987.

He began attending Omaha Baptist Bible College in 1952 before moving to Grand Rapids, where he served as assistant superintendent of the city's Haven of Rest.

By the time the Chalfants moved to Battle Creek, they had four children: Sandra, Silas, Paul and Sharon.

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Enquirer records show Chalfant worked with more than 20 local churches in the Haven's infancy, offering regular spiritual services as well as meals after the service to encourage attendance.

"I wish I could say that every one of the 196 who knelt at our altars last year were completely changed," Chalfant was quoted as saying in a 1960 Enquirer and News article. "Unfortunately, it's not so."

He added that the weakness of human beings and their inability to grasp religion "makes them slip back time and again," but that converts "settle down to a place in society."

His eldest son, Silas, recalled his father as both religious and highly disciplined.

"It was his way or the highway," Silas Chalfant said. "I think he had to be that way, especially running the mission, because there were some men there on drugs or alcohol so he had to have strict rules.

"He was strict with us, too, but he also was caring and loving."

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Anderson said her parents were equal partners in building the Haven. For years, Don managed day-to-day operations of the mission while Wilma worked six-hour shifts at Kellogg Co. to make ends meet while overseeing the Haven's bookkeeping and cooking duties.

Wilma Chalfant also founded Inasmuch House, the Haven's emergency shelter for women, children and families.

"Without the two of them working together and both having the passion, it probably wouldn’t have worked so well," Anderson said.

Don Chalfant began scaling down his involvement in the Haven in the late 1980s. Chalfant's son Paul served as co-superintendent with him and later became executive director, leading the organization into the early 2000s.

The Haven now has an annual budget of about $2 million. It served 70,000 meals last year to the area's homeless population.

His family said Chalfant loved gospel music, playing his guitar and motorcycles. He leaves behind his second wife, Linda Meyer, as well as nine grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Great-granddaughter Erika Bradshaw, 27, said Chalfant made her reevaluate her faith and other decisions in life — and he was sure to express pride when she landed a job with the Haven's Women's Life Recovery Program in 2014.

"It was hard with the pitch of my voice and his hearing aids but it was like, 'proud of you, kid,' she said.

Both Don's impact and Wilma's continue to be felt at the Haven, its Fund Development Coordinator Daniel Jones said. Jones said Chalfant's desire to help the less fortunate — even outside of the religious component of the facility — remains a treasured part of the its modern heritage.

"Don was quite a guy," Jones said. "He showed up in Battle Creek in 1956 with $100 in his pocket and a mission to start doing mission work. A mission for a mission. The Haven has been open every day since for 61 years.

"That’s quite a legacy if you think about it."

Funeral plans for Chalfant have not yet been finalized, the family said.

Contact Battle Creek Enquirer income and opportunity reporter Dillon Davis at 269-966-0698 or dwdavis@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DillonDavis