I’m Nicole Lescher and I’m a Case Manager at Hospitality House, setting goals with clients to help them transition from homelessness to housing.
Every week we like to share a story so our community can get a better understanding of the lives of our guests, their successes and hardships. I’d like to share the story of a woman that we’ll call Donna. Donna is 72-years old, born and raised in Nevada County and comes from a well-known and prestigious family. She has been homeless for over a decade. She suffered from alcoholism and no longer has ties with her family. She had suffered from domestic violence, mental illness, suffered from three brain infections and sadly was hit by a truck. She has been to Hospitality House on and off and arrived again to the shelter in March of 2019. Donna was unable to move to independent living as she was too frail to prepare her own meals and keep-up with cleaning. We immediately took care of her and right before Christmas she was housed into a care home! She is the most genuinely good-hearted person and is so grateful for our help. Donna absolutely loves living there. She is so joyful that she has been willing to go to the dentist and has been able to address her ongoing gum and jaw infections. She’s now going to have some teeth removed and will soon have a full set of dentures that will allow her to properly eat. We recently asked her if she needed anything else and she simply said, “Now that I’m here, maybe some pajamas.” We are very happy to see Donna’s spirit so uplifted and see her take care of her health. We will continue to care for her and enjoy her funny sense of humor. We are relieved to see her in safe place where she is lovingly cared for and are grateful to our donors for making this transition possible
Empty Bowl event is back on Saturday, March 14! Our favorite artist-driven event returns this March with bowls aplenty. Every year, artists around Nevada County come together to create handcrafted bowls that are then filled with soup for our patrons. Sharing a simple meal of soup together is an opportunity for the community to express its compassion for those struggling with homelessness.
All sales and donations at the event will help people transition from homelessness to housing. Tickets go on sale tomorrow February 1st. You can purchase your tickets at hhshelter.org, Bread & Roses Thrift and More or BriarPatch Food Co-op. A big thank you to YubaNet and you, KVMR, for being sponsors again this year.
This past week, we were blessed by many caring individuals and I’d like to give a big thank you to Wolf Creek CoHousing, Telestream, Meals by Heels, Peace Lutheran Church, First Baptist Church and The Home Team 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…
- Warm blankets
- Ibuprofen
- Tylenol
- Hand warmers
- Coffee
- Warm gloves
- Men’s belts
- Hairbrushes
- Razors
- Men’s boots, sizes 10, 11 and 12
- Women’s boots, sizes 8-10
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!