As reported on KVMR, on 3/8/19

Good morning, my name is Nicole Lescher. I’m a Case Manager with Hospitality House, which is the only emergency homeless shelter in Nevada County, with 69 beds for homeless men, women and children.

I want to share a story with you all, one that has touched my heart. It’s a story of a woman that I will call… “Lucy”. Lucy was a runner, and worked as a Nurse. She had three children but one child sadly passed away at birth. Lucy is now 45-years old but things are very different now, she suffers from mental and physical illness, such as chronic PTSD, co-dependency, severe scoliosis and substance abuse. She was a victim of domestic violence, which caused her a traumatic brain injury, and short-term memory loss. She was homeless and had no family members or friends to look after her.

Lucy arrived at the shelter six month ago, and we immediately assisted her with food, shelter and connected her with wrap-around services in collaboration with organizations such as FREED, Behavioral Health Services, Community Beyond Violence, AMI Housing and Spirit House.

I’m very proud to say, that Lucy was housed just six days ago, through AMI Housing! This is an amazing organization which adopts the “Housing First” model approach, “Meeting people where they are”. This organization literally goes to the homeless camps, gets people in their car and drops them off to their new home. 
Lucy, now lives with four women in which all serve as support for eachother. It’s a wonderful house where I’m personally very familiar with, and happy that she is now in a safe place. Now that she is housed, I will continue to work with her, and I will personally take her to her appointments, and make sure that she gets her in-home wrap around services that she needs. Lucy is so sweet, and her case is challenging but it’s also one of the most rewarding cases that I have seen unfold.

Empty Bowl is around the corner! -an annual benefit for our shelter taking place on Saturday, March 23. Enjoy a simple meal of bread and soup with friends as we take a moment to appreciate what a bowl of soup truly means when you are hungry and without a home. You also get to choose your favorite soup and a unique ceramic or wooden hand-crafted bowl! A huge thank you to BriarPatch Co-op for their loyal sponsorship, they have donated 700 disposable bamboo spoons and 20 gallons of soup for Empty Bowl! Tickets can be purchased through our website at hhshelter.org, at BriarPatch Food Co-op, and at Bread & Roses Thrift and More.

This event is possible thanks to generous artists who donate handcrafted bowls and local chefs who fill those bowls with delicious soup. If you’re a local artist, we still need ceramic or wooden handmade bowls, and warmly welcome your involvement. Call our Empty Bowl team at 530-615-0852 if you can help.

A big thank you to the all the volunteer dinner groups who made dinner for 69 hungry folks every night this past week: Nevada City United Methodist Church, Saint Patrick’s Church, Sierra Pines United Methodist Church, Jazzercise, Baha’i Faith, Crossroads Church and Alta Sierra Latter Day Saints.

A big shout out to everyone who dropped off needed donation items last week—thank you! Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for THIS week . . .

Items needed for our shelter guests:
• Men’s Winter boots size 9 – 12
• Ladies Winter Boots size 8 – 11
• Cough drops
• Cough syrup
• Tampons-super size 
• Belts
• Thick Blankets 
• Depends- medium size
• Chucks (disposable under pads)
• Men’s jeans 34/34
• Winter gloves

Drop off your donations at Utah’s Place, located in Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way in Grass Valley.

Thank you all, for sticking together, so that…. we all get what we need.

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