You may remember that every January, the County of Nevada attempts to count the number of homeless people in Nevada County and invite them to access services. Various organizations counted their guests on the night of January 24th, 2018 – including Hospitality House, the Sierra Roots Warming Center, the Truckee Warming Center, and Booth Family Center. Included in the Count are: Unsheltered Homeless – people living outside, in cars, or other places not meant for human habitation and Sheltered Homeless – people living in emergency shelters, motels paid for by an agency and transitional housing for the homeless. Not included in the Count: those temporarily living with family or friends (doubled up or couch surfing), those living in permanent supportive housing or Rapid Rehousing, and those in institutions – such as jails, foster care, or hospitals. The 2018 Point In Time results demonstrated a 27% decrease as compared to 2017. Various factors can affect these results since they are performed on a single night – such as weather (this year the count was performed on a cold and snowy day), location of the event, etc. 35% have a serious mental illness and 24% are families experiencing homelessness.
One of those homeless guests is Richard. He has been a client of Hospitality House off and on since 2016. He has had great difficulty in maintaining employment, working as a day laborer usually.
He suffers from depression and we helped connect him with Behavioral Health. He was a special education student most of his school years. More recently he did complete the Hospitality House culinary job training program and a Job Readiness Workshop at One Stop Career Center. Most importantly; I assisted him in filling out an application for the Alta Regional Center which will involve aptitude testing and career assessment that (hopefully) may lead to an “On the Job” training program.
On another note: Bread & Roses Thrift Store is now open! All sales benefit Hospitality House. Come in to the store at the corner of East Main and Hughes, We have a great stock of hats, spring skirts, dresses and items to decorate your home. The store is open Tuesday-Saturday from noon-6 p.m. Everything you donate is sorted and the clothing that is needed by our homeless guests is taken back to the shelter so that our homeless guests get it for free. If there are items they still need, our case managers write a FREE clothing voucher, and our homeless guests shop for FREE at Bread & Roses. So our homeless guests don’t pay for clothes they need—thanks to your donations! You can drop off donations to Bread & Roses Thrift, around the back of Sierra Cinemas, Tuesday-Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.
The patience, flexibility, and dedication of our wonderful Bread & Roses volunteers made the store remodel possible. You showed up every day to sort clothes, deconstruct and reconstruct. One particular gentleman worked many hours on construction projects, arriving 2-3 times per week to assist. Thank you Tom! More volunteers are needed to help keep the store looking beautiful. Reach out to Sue at 615.0805 or sue@hhshelter.org
Every night of the week a different team prepares dinner for the guests at the shelter. That really ends up being a cast of thousands of generous souls! This week we are so thankful to Trinity Church, Veritas Church, the Kitchen Kutups, Latter Day Saints, and Grass Valley Charter for bringing the ingredients and cooking up a wonderful dinners for 80 people. And thanks to BriarPatch, SPD and the local farmers that help out with discounts on ingredients for those dinner groups.
Last week many of you brought in deodorant and other items—thank you!
Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for THIS week . . .
– Handwarmers for our street clients
– Shoelaces
– Backpacks, any size
– A used but working iPad
– Towels
– Protein bars for lunches
– Art supplies, specifically used canvases and acrylic paints and brushes for a therapeutic art class
Drop off your donations at Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way.
And finally, mark your calendars for a album release concert on May 9, benefitting Hospitality House: Jerry Grant and the NUJAZZ ALTERNATIVE VIRTUAL ORCHESTRA: blending rock, classical, jazz and electronic elements into an eclectic style. With Special Guests:
Motoshi Kosako – Harpist-Lyrical improvisation
Tumble -African influenced trance jazz
Featuring: Bill Douglass, Robert Heirendt, Sean Kerrigan, Randy McKean
Gary Regina – world jazz, multi-instrumentalist looper
Sands Hall – folk/ jazz/ Americana, singer/songwriter/actor/director/writer
with Maggie McKaig & Randy McKean
Show is May 9 at the Nevada Theater. Tickets at BriarPatch Food Co-op.