I’m David, the Homeless Outreach and Medical Engagement (HOME) Team Supervisor at Hospitality House, assisting individuals and families in quickly regaining stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis or homelessness. I also help homeless individuals find the needed medical and financial resources to help them get back on their feet and into housing. HOME is in partnership with County of Nevada and Turning Point.
I want to share a story with you, a story about a client who I will call Carla. Carla is a mother of two children who were homeless and living in her car for four months. Carla became unemployed due to COVID. She was behind on rent and told her landlord, “We just cannot do it” and left her apartment peacefully before she was evicted. She was homeless but refused financial assistance and didn’t want to live in a motel. She instead decided to live with friends. Carla reached out for help at Hospitality House by coming to our offices, and in one hour through our HOME Team program, we started making cold calls to landlords in Placer County. While Carla is a Nevada County resident, we wanted to help her find housing in Placer County specifically since she just secured new employment in the area. I sat in the office and called tons of places, I found some openings and gave Carla some housing leads. After that day, we remained in contact. Carla soon secured Section 8 assistance to help her pay for a place to live. I continued to help Carla search for places to live and negotiated rentals with landlords for her. She found an apartment in Placer County and is now doing great with her two children. Everything is falling into place for Carla. We are happy to have helped Carla and her two children find the resources and boost needed to get back on their feet. Sometimes, individuals or families only need a little encouragement and support from others to help change a life forever. To learn more about Hospitality House, please visit hhshelter.org.
This week we are ending Empty Bowl by featuring Three Forks Bakery and Heartwood Eatery. We’d like to thank Better Together Nevada County, Dignity Health Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Caseywood, and The Union for being sponsors again this year! Thank you to everyone, from our Empty Bowl ticketholders, restaurants, artists, and fantastic sponsors who support the work of Hospitality House to help people on their journey back to housing and support local businesses too. We look forward to seeing you all again for Empty Bowl next year!
Normally at this time, we thank all the cook groups who came and cooked over the last week, but to keep our shelter safe, our cooking groups are supporting our meals by donating financial support and food. Chef Gina is safely cooking all meals instead. We’d like to thank Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Nevada City United Methodist Church, Sierra Pines United Methodist Church, Jazzercise, The Home Team, Crossroads Church, and Telestream, and BriarPatch Food Co-Op and SPD Markets for all their recent help. To everyone who donated our most needed items last week, thank you as well!
And the needs of the shelter for this week are:
• Baby car seats, baby blankets, strollers and newborn diapers
• Belts, all sizes
• Blankets, twin size
• Bottled water
• Hairbrushes
• Headphones
• Men’s and Women’s deodorant
• Me’s and Women’s sweatpants, all sizes
• Men’s and Women’s underwear, sizes M and L
• Men’s pants, sizes 32-40
• Men’s shoes, sizes 10 and up
• Men’s t-shirts, sizes M, L and XL
• New pillows
• PPE masks (disposable or neck gators)
• Shaving razors
• Toothbrushes
• Toothpaste
• Travel bags, duffle bags and backpacks
• Women shirts, all sizes
Please drop off urgent items or mail them to Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way in Grass Valley. For a tax receipt, please ring the doorbell and wait for someone to come outside to assist you. We greatly appreciate the community’s help at such times of uncertainty. In the words of Utah Phillips, “If we all stick together, we’ll get what we need.” Thank you!