You have been with us every step of the way and we are so grateful for your commitment and support. Last year we became a 501C3, earning our non profit status.
Now, our journey to provide housing for everyone continues. We are reaching out to ask for your ongoing generosity and compassion as we continue this walk together - the walk to help every human being have a place to call home and to stay safe from the cold. As the cold winter months are approaching, we need your help now. Our federal government talks the talk in its Housing First policy, promoting the idea that people need a place to live before they can do better. But it doesn’t walk the walk by funding it! BUT YOU DO! You reach into your pocketbooks so that someone you don’t even know will finally have a home and a place to raise their children. Because of your generosity and compassion, we raised $70,000 last year which we have used to continue housing people (we have now helped 76) and to provide cold weather shelter and supplies to over 200. Further, 20 of you donated $200,000 so that we can buy our first house for three people to share at a rent they can afford. (United Way added another $50,000.) Your support demonstrates to us that you think as we do – total mystification that we are still living in a society that thinks it’s normal to pass by people living on the street, on benches, in parking lots and in places totally inappropriate for human habitation. How is this still happening in 2022? There is no excuse for this. The research is there. We know about the effects of trauma, of mental health issues, the power of substances, and the economic issues that leave our neighbors floundering. The simplistic and incorrect idea that people are lazy doesn’t cut it anymore. Is an hourly paycheck of $10.00 enough for anyone to survive? Are people who have a disability but receive only Supplemental Social Security Income (SSI) of $840 a month able to provide for themselves and their children? Is someone who doesn’t have the ability to apply for and sustain work any less worthy of a place to live? With your help, our all-volunteer Board at “A Home” is trying our hardest to provide for our neighbors: 1. This winter we are fortunate to again have the wonderful space at Decatur First United Methodist Church to shelter 25 vulnerable people including children on the nights that fall to or below 35 degrees. They will be served a hot meal and breakfast, be provided with clothing and blankets, and will have a warm bed and a hot shower. 2. We will continue paying start-up costs so that deserving families and individuals can move into their own homes. Because people must use all their income to pay for expensive hotels, they cannot save up the money for first month’s rent, deposits, utility connections and furniture. We also match each family with a “friendly visitor” who is available to provide resources and guidance. Not only do we make it possible for people to finally have a place to live but also, because we do not take government money, we can cut a check within a day so that folks don’t lose out when an apartment suddenly becomes available. 3. And most exciting of all, we are in the process of buying our first home for three people to share. This has happened because of our Really! Affordable Housing campaign, a campaign that the United Way endorses with the $50,000 it contributed. This house is just the beginning of our plan to purchase many more so that additional people can have an affordable place to live – they will pay just 35% of their income in rent. In addition, they will have professional case management to help them move forward. What we need from you!!!! $50 will pay for 5 blow up beds or 5 blankets in our cold weather shelte $120 will pay for a day of case management in our house $350 will pay for a manager and supplies for one night at our cold weather shelter. We expect at least 30 nights for a total of $10,500 $600 will pay for the first month at a boarding house for one individual. $1000 will pay for the deposit on an apartment. In closing, we can’t thank you enough for your concern and support. You know what’s important – that every person in this world deserves a place to call HOME! PLEASE MAKE YOUR DONATION TODAY at: ahomeforeveryoneindekalb.org or mail a check to A Home For Everyone In DeKalb, 225 E. Ponce de Leon Ave., Unit 323, Decatur, GA 30030. And please forward this appeal to your friends. The All-Volunteer Board of A Home For Everyone In DeKalb
--
A Home For Everyone In DeKalb
A Collaborative Initiative On Homelessness
ahomeforeveryoneindekalb.org
Comments