I’m Leah Farkas, the Volunteer Manager at Hospitality House. I have the pleasure and honor of working with the wonderful people in our community who donate their time to help further our mission. One of the most rewarding parts of my job is, to announce our monthly Volunteer Spotlight, which this month, goes to local potter and Empty Bowl volunteer extraordinaire, Chic Lotz!
Hospitality House’s annual Empty Bowl fundraiser was scheduled to return tomorrow, but at the advisement of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, we are postponing our event until at least April. Ticketholders are encouraged to visit our website at hhshelter.org for full details. Even with the postponement, artists like Chic continue to drop off beautiful bowls to help make Empty Bowl possible. Chic’s involvement with Empty Bowl precedes Hospitality House’s inception. She first discovered this great opportunity to highlight the intersection between food and housing insecurity back in 1996 when she attended one in Ashland, Oregon. Soon after, she began bringing local potters together to create beautiful handcrafted bowls to be auctioned off with donations going to our local food bank and eventually to Hospitality House. Her dedication eventually blossomed into the driving-force behind this effort for our current event.
Back when we were a nomadic shelter, Chic held workshops for our guests teaching them her art and trade after Joanna Robinson (Utah Philip’s wife) reached to her. Volunteering for Empty Bowl as was the workshops is near and dear to her heart because it is a combination of her two passions, giving back to her community and working with clay. As she puts its “doing this event has been a lot of fun” and at the same time she recognizes that homelessness can happen to anyone so in her words she “wants to give love-in whatever form- service, food, or support.”
Well Chic, we always love and welcome your service and support. Thank you for your decades of support as we work together to help members of our homeless community transition to housing.
People volunteer with Hospitality House in a variety of ways, and we’re always looking for new volunteers who can help further our mission and services. If anyone listening has an interest in learning more about volunteer opportunities, you can contact me directly, Leah, at 530-615-0805 or visit hhshelter.org for more information.
This past week, we were blessed by many caring individuals and I’d like to give a big thank you to Crossroads Church, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Nevada City United Methodist Church, Holy Trinity Church – Episcopal: Historic Faith for Modern People, Mountain Stream Meditation Center, Kitchen KutUps, The Home Team and Repeat Offenders 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 pants, sizes 14-16
• Women’s shirts and hoodies, sizes L-XL
• Women’s underwear, sizes 7 and 8
• Women’s shoes and boots, sizes 9, 9 ½ and 10
• Men’s jeans, sizes 29-36
• Men’s t-shirts, sizes L and XL
• Men’s boxers, sizes S-L
• Men’s hoodies, sizes L-XL
• Men’s and Women’s Deodorant
• Shampoo and hair conditioner, full sizes
• Coffee
• Sugar
• Earplugs
• Shave cream
• Blankets, single and full size
Please drop off urgent items to Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way. If we all stick together, we’ll all get what we need. Thank you!