I’m Leah Farkas, the Volunteer Manager at Hospitality House, and I work with all the wonderful people in our community who donate their time to help further our mission, like volunteer Teri Gevry.
Over the last six and half years, Hospitality House has had the honor and privilege of having Teri on our volunteer team as a dedicated and passionate advocate. She first came on board as what we now call a Guest Advocate, working in our shelter. She currently serves as an Outreach Advocate, supporting women in our post-housing program.
Teri’s story with Hospitality House began, when she first heard a plug for a play at KVMR which many of us have come to know and love called “A Place to Call Home”. That evening, Teri went to the show at the Center for the Arts and had a conversation with a former Utah’s Place guest, which changed the course of her life forever. As he shared the story of his journey, she began to appreciate the issues surrounding our homeless neighbors and embarked on her own journey to understand and address homelessness in our community.
Since that day, Teri has worked tirelessly to help Hospitality House further its mission of helping support members of our homeless community as they transition from homelessness to housing. Like so many of our volunteers, Teri dedicates her time to Hospitality House because she loves working with our guests. “I get to help them on their journey, on their path. I love the fact that they have embraced me as I help them see a new vision” said Teri.
Teri, your dedication to our guests is greatly and forever appreciated. Your strength and endurance as you help meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable members of our community is only matched by your passion and kindness. Thank you for all that you do!
Want to help your community like Teri? Then come and join Hospitality House’s team of volunteers! We have many areas where you can help including at Utah’s Place, Bread & Roses Thrift store, at our Community Camp Cleanups, and in our office. Volunteering with us is a great way you can make new friends, while giving back to your community!
Coming up soon! Hospitality House is joining forces with County of Nevada, City of Grass Valley, Nevada County Sheriff’s Office (NCSO) and Grass Valley Police Department (GVPD) to offer the shelter’s most collective community cleanup effort to date. On Saturday, Oct. 12, all parties will clean and beautify private land and abandoned homeless camps in the Brunswick Basin as well as mitigate for fire with support from volunteers in the community.
When: Saturday, Oct. 12 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Where: 900 Block of Plaza Drive
What to Wear: Long pants and shirts that you don’t mind getting dirty as well as work gloves (if you have them) and closed-toed shoes
We are actively recruiting 150 volunteers to help us on one of our cleanup teams, tabling at the beginning or end of the event, or on the day-of volunteer management team. All volunteers are required to take safety training onsite and sign a waiver to participate, and we will provide breakfast burritos and bagged lunches. A special thank you to Dr. Don Magnuson, DDS for donating supplies for our Camp Cleanup!
Register Today! To sign up, email me, Leah Farkas at lfarkas@hhshelter.org, or call me directly at 530-615-0805. Hospitality House hosts two major camp cleanups per year in addition to small cleanups at regular intervals. To learn more about this camp cleanup and future cleanups, visit hhshelter.org/camp-cleanups.
This past week, we were blessed by many caring individuals and I’d like to give a big thank you to Wolf Creek Cohousing, Telestream, Eteam, Twin Cities Church, Jazzercise and Crossroads Church for coming out to cook. To everyone who donated our most needed items last week, thank you as well!
Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for this week…
- Women’s Jeans, sizes 10 -14
- Women’s sneakers, sizes 8 – 10
- Men’s T-shirt, sizes L & XL
- Men’s jeans, sizes 34 – 38
- Men’s and women’s warm jackets, sizes L & XL
- Blankets
- Rain Suits
- Warm gloves
Please drop off urgent items to Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way. For all other donations that may benefit a homeless guest or the shelter in general, please take them to the backdoor of Bread & Roses, our thrift shop, located at 840 E. Main Street, directly next door to Sierra Cinemas. Guests at our shelter are given shopping vouchers for the store to buy what they need, so your donation directly helps them. All other items are sold with 100% of the sales supporting the shelter’s operations. If we all stick together, we’ll get what we need. Thank you!