Hospitality House is the only emergency homeless shelter in Nevada County, with 69 beds for homeless men, women and children.
My name is Nicole Lescher and as a case manager at Hospitality House, I work with people who have varying backgrounds and stories, like one woman I’ll call Hannah. Hannah has a history of mental health and was doing good financially two years ago when she made the decision to buy a property. At the time, Hannah was living out of state and found what she thought was her dream property here locally. She purchased the property sight unseen, packed her bags and headed to California. Well, when she arrived, she expected to find a beautiful property with a home, but instead learned she had mistakenly purchased only land…land that didn’t even have a road to access the property…and land that is covered in snow three months of the year.
With no extra money to build a home, Hannah survived for a while in a trailer, struggling to make ends meet, and eventually found herself homeless. She turned to Hospitality House for help and for the last few months, one of my personal goals has been to help Hannah sell that property, because if she could sell the land, she could use that money to buy a real home. Part of our philosophy here at Hospitality House is to take people as far as we can, and we had to do it for Hannah—and more importantly, we wanted to do it.
It was very challenging and I worked with her and her realtor, but we did it! Hannah was able to sell the property for more than the purchase price AND was able to use that money to buy a home, moving in at Christmas!
I recently received an update from Hannah, and she gushed, “I’m staying indoors, warm and well-fed.” We love getting updates and I love doing everything in my power to help someone in need, but I do get asked at times, ‘How can I help?’ or ‘What can I do?’
I want everyone listening to know that there are several ways to support our shelter guests, but one way in particular is to support Bread & Roses Thrift and More, our local thrift shop, and you can do so by shopping in the store or donating to the store. Bread & Roses welcomes donations of all kinds, including gently-used clothes, kitchen items, jewelry, electronics, books—even small furniture. And the best part? 100% of the proceeds from the store directly support our homeless shelter. Our store team, which is largely volunteer-based, also sorts every donation upon arrival and items that are needed at the shelter, such as our evolving weekly list of needs, are sent over as well.
Volunteers largely make what we do possible and we appreciate all of them for giving wholeheartedly their time and love to help our shelter guests. To everyone who volunteered to cook and provide meals last week, we thank you as well: Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Nevada City United Methodist Church, St. Patricks Church, Sierra Pines United Methodist Church, Kitchen Kutups, Repeat Offenders, and the Alta Sierra Latter-Day Saints—thank you! And to everyone who dropped off needed items last week—thank you as well! Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for this week…
Men’s heavy winter coats, sizes L and XL
Men’s boxers, sizes 36-38
Men’s and women’s long johns, sizes M, L and XL
Men’s and women’s pajamas, sizes M, L and XL
Men’s and women’s winter gloves
Women’s winter boots sizes 8 and up
Denture glue
Drop off your donations at Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way. Thank you for sticking together so that we all get what we need.