Monthly News: Local Donor Gifts Homeless Woman New Home

We have individuals and families counting on us and the pandemic will not slow us down. We are standing strong and moving forward because of your continued support. In these last four months, 356 unique individuals in crisis have been helped because of community supporters like you, with the following services provided:

There is more work to do and we welcome your support. Give today>

Former Guest Achieves Her Dreams

Wendy Norman was once someone who struggled with substance use disorder and homelessness. She grew up in an abusive household and eventually ran away to escape the pain but ended up in a new home where she was introduced to drugs. At the age of 13, she became addicted and her life took a turn for the worse, but today, she is clean and sober and a high school graduate!

“Wendy has worked hard to heal and break multi-generational cycles of trauma and addiction,” said Jennifer Thomas, Wendy’s case manager. “She has created a balanced life for herself and having a place of her own has been a goal for years.”

Wendy moved into permanent housing last October, and despite the pandemic, she continued forward in her education. She graduated in June and is off to college!

“I want to become a drug and alcohol counselor so I can be there for someone else as Hospitality House has been there for me,” said Wendy.

Congratulations, Wendy! We are so proud of you!

Volunteer Spotlight: Pat Forman

Pat has a passion to serve. For the last two decades, she’s been involved with the end of life movement and in teaching folks about advance care planning. She moved to Nevada City in 2015 and connected with Hospitality House soon after, becoming a steady volunteer and an honored member of the Hearts & Hands Club. She’s served in a variety of capacities through the years, including cooking with the Mountain Stream team, helping at events and fundraisers, working at the former Bread & Roses Thrift and More, and acting as a spiritual care and end of life advocate in the shelter.

“From my college days, fighting injustice – working to make services and opportunities more equitable, affordable and available for underserved populations – has been my passion,” said Pat.

Pat developed a deeper appreciation for helping those less fortunate following a trip to Cuba in 1988 with her teenage daughter. When they visited a local high school, a comment from a student in a class changed her forever.

The student had heard there were homeless people living on the streets in the US and said that couldn’t be true and asked her daughter to explain.

“When my daughter talked about there being thousands of homeless people in the US, and having to step over homeless people on her way to school, the Cuban students were dumbfounded,” recalled Pat. “The student said, ‘How could that be? In Cuba, if someone saw a homeless person, she would take him/her home. We would never allow someone to live on the street.’’’

Pat acknowledged things in Cuba are much different 30 years later but said, “That’s one reason that this cause matters so much to me.”

With Pat at our sides, Hospitality House continues to help people off the streets and into permanent homes of their own. We are grateful for Pam’s kind heart, her advocacy, and her spiritual care and commitment to our homeless community.

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported Empty Bowl 2020. We enjoyed seeing many smiling faces (through masks!) at our bowl pick up on July 10.

A big thank you to our talented artists for gifting their unique pieces of art every year to make Empty Bowl possible and to our local businesses for their continued sponsorship. We know this was a very different year, but we thank our community for standing in solidarity with us and taking the spirit of the event home with them.

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