By Tyson Powers, as reported on KVMR
Hospitality House is the only emergency homeless shelter in Nevada County, with 69 beds for homeless men, women and children.
I’m Tyson Powers and I’m the Housing Specialist at Hospitality House. My main priority is to help homeless individuals transition back into housing and I’m always looking for creative and permanent housing solutions.
I want to share with you all the story of a guest who I will call Mary. Mary is 26 and a single mother of a 6-year-old child. She has a history of substance abuse, which led to her homelessness. Luckily, she didn’t give up, and reached out to me back in February for help with housing after successfully going through a 30-day detox program and graduating from a 6-month drug recovery program. Mary and her son were not guests at the shelter, but my job is to assist people who are struggling to find housing, so I helped her enroll in our Rapid Rehousing program. I quickly realized that she qualified for CalWORKs Housing Support Program (HSP). HSP helps homeless families in quickly obtaining permanent housing and provides wraparound support to families to foster housing retention.
Mary is now clean, working in the retail business and has been successfully housed since March. I talk to her once a month for case management follow-up to ensure that she continues to do well. Like her, there are many people struggling with addiction and wraparound support services are essential for a successful recovery, along with a stable home. I was glad to guide and connect her with the right resources and agencies that can best support her through her journey alongside her son, wishing them both a brighter future filled with hope.
If anyone listening right now might have an interest in helping individuals by renting a room, studio, apartment or house I invite you to call me today. I can be reached directly at 530-798-6465.
Our thrift store Bread & Roses could also use your help. We’re looking for wonderful volunteers to join our team. Whether you can give one hour or one day, we greatly appreciate your support. Please call our new Volunteer Manager Leah Farkas at 530-615-0805 to get started.
Great news! Hospitality House is embarking on an exciting partnership with the Grass Valley Police Department, the Nevada City Police Department, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and Nevada County Behavioral Health to introduce the first-of-its-kind training curriculum for local law enforcement through an awarded Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) grant.
The POST curriculum will introduce a street team approach to assist officers in addressing the complex set of challenges surrounding homelessness and best practices for effective communication with emphasis on chronic homelessness, mental illness, substance abuse and effective alternatives to camping in rural settings. Learn more about POST at hhshelter.org.
This past week, we were blessed by many caring individuals who prepared meals and we are beyond grateful. I’d like to give a big thank you to Alta Sierra Latter Day Saints, Twin Cities Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, E-TEAM, Choppers, The Home Team and Abundant Life Church 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…
- Boxer shorts, sizes M & L
- Sweatpants or sleep pants, sizes M &L
- Light flannel shirts, sizes L
- Thick socks
- Sunscreen
- Poison Oak medicine
- New hairbrushes
- Belts
- Blankets
- Writing pens
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.