As reported on KVMR 89.5FM & 105.1FM, March 29
Hospitality House is the only emergency homeless shelter in Nevada County, with 69 beds for homeless men, women and children.
I’m Tyson Powers, Housing Case Manager at Hospitality House. I help Hospitality House’s guests and homeless individuals find temporary and long-term housing, along with eligible financial services.
I want to share a story with you all, a story of a man that I will call Bill. Bill was born to U.S. Diplomats, and as a child was sent to a boarding school. Later, as an adult he served in the U.S. military, married and had a son. But 5-years ago he suffered a tragedy, Bill lost his wife, and that’s when his alcohol abuse started. He then found himself homeless and sought for help at Hospitality House. It’s been 2-years now, and thanks to the wraparound services such as Alcoholic Anonymous meetings and case management services, he has been sober since.
Bill is now 64-years old, and I’m delighted to say that he was housed a month ago! He now receives widowers’ benefits, and social security financial services, which help to pay for his rent. He now lives in downtown Nevada City in a fully furnished apartment, where he has easy access to stores for personal shopping and access to public transportation, which allows him to attend his regular AA meetings. He really loves his apartment, and is overjoyed with having his own space to live in. I visit Bill in weekly basis, to make sure that he has all the resources needed for an independent living. I’m personally very proud of this successful story because he has really come a long way and is now recovered. I’m honored to be part Bill’s journey.
Now to Empty Bowl! I would like to take a moment to acknowledge our wonderful community for making Empty Bowl a successful event this past Saturday! With your help, this was our biggest year yet! This will give 93 people struggling with homelessness one full week of shelter and care, with all-inclusive wraparound services, such as food, clothing, a warm bed, case management, job training, transportation to appointments, housing assistance, and more. Thank you for making this possible.
We appreciate every single person who attended the event from the patrons, to our hardworking volunteers, staff, sponsors, our local business that donated bread and soup, and of course to the wonderful artisans that handcrafted those beautiful one-of-a-kind wooden and ceramic bowls. Thank you for sharing a simple meal of bread and soup, and for showing your commitment to our hungry and homeless neighbors.
A big thank you to the all the volunteer dinner groups who made dinner for 69 hungry folks every night this past week: Telestream, Saint Patricks Church, John Bilheimer’s Group, Peace Lutheran Church, the Home Team, Grass Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains.
To everyone who dropped off needed items last week—we thank you as well! Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for this week…
- Toothpaste
- Denture glue
- Women’s sneakers, size 7-10
- Women’s britches, size 7-12
- Men’s jeans, sizes 32,34 and 36
- Men’s sweatpants, sizes M, L, and XL
- Men’s jackets, sizes L and XL
- Men’s deodorant
Please drop off these urgent items to Utah’s Place, located in the Brunswick Basin, past the DMV, at 1262 Sutton Way. For all other donations that may benefit a homeless guest or the shelter in general, please take them to the backdoor of Bread & Roses Thrift and More, our thrift shop, located at 840 E Main Street, directly next door to Sierra Cinemas. Guests at our shelter are given shopping vouchers for the store to buy what they need, so your donation directly helps them. All other items are sold with 100% of the sales supporting the shelter’s operations. Thank you for sticking together so that we all get what we need.