As reported on KVMR, June 7:
Hospitality House is the only emergency homeless shelter in Nevada County, with 69 beds for homeless men, women and children.
I’m Nicole Lescher and as a case manager, I work one-on-one with guests in our shelter and together we set goals, such as enrolling in financial training courses, job training, etc., which are all steps toward permanent supportive housing. Well, one guest I’d like to tell you about is a gentleman I’ll call Cameron.
Cameron took advantage of our 12-week culinary job training program offered at the shelter, in which Chef Chris taught him everything he needs to know to work in the restaurant. This includes basics such as knife cutting techniques to preparing meals from scratch and even harvesting their own produce. Cameron also has a background in culinary, so it was the perfect refresher course for him. Well, our friends at Friar Tuck’s Restaurant & Pub are aware of the program and upon having an opening in their kitchen, they reached out and offered to interview a culinary student. Cam went and he got the job! For now, Cameron is helping with dishwashing, but the sky’s the limit! We are so grateful to Friar Tuck’s for giving Cam this opportunity.
Now that Cam’s working again, we’re that much closer to getting him a new home. And if anyone listening would like to help Cam and the rest of the guests at our shelter move into housing, we’ve been talking a lot about our May Match that was supposed to end on May 31, but our generous benefactors have extended it to June 15! This means everyone in the community has more time to give and have their donation doubled dollar-for-dollar. You can learn more about the match at hhshelter.org.
With summer just about upon us, I want to remind everyone about our thrift store, Bread & Roses Thrift and More. The store has great deals just about every day and every sale supports those in need. This is a great time to stock up on cute summer clothes for the whole family. Shop for a deal and support our shelter in the process.
This past week we were blessed by many caring individuals. I want to give a big shout out to Volz Brothers Automotive. When our homeless access transportation vehicle needed repairs, they stepped up and donated $2500 in repair work so people in need can still make it to the medical appointments, the grocery store, and so forth. We can’t thank them enough for their support! I’d also like to thank our wonderful cooking teams who came out each night to make warm meals for our homeless guests, including Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, Nevada City United Methodist Church, the Emergency Team, Sierra Presbyterian Church, Jazzercise, The Home Team, Crossroads Church. Thank you!
Now down to the nitty gritty needs of the shelter for this week…
- Men’s t-shirts, sizes large and x-large
- Men’s jeans, sizes 34/34, 36/34, 38/34
- Men’s shorts, sizes 28-38
- Men’s boxers, M & L
- Women’s shirts, sizes M & L
- Blankets
- Chux
- Sunscreen
- Calamine lotion
Please drop off urgent items to Utah’s Place, located in 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, 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.