As reported on KVMR 89.5FM & 105.1FM, April 5
Hospitality House is the only emergency homeless shelter in Nevada County, with 69 beds for homeless men, women and children.
Hi, I’m Rob Barker, Outreach Liaison at Hospitality House. I’m also a certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. I work closely with businesses, and our homeless neighbors in Nevada County.
I want to share with you all my experience working with our homeless neighbors living in the Brunswick basin and surrounding areas. We are seeing a new positive shift going on at the shelter; we are having people that we had never seen before are now stepping foot at the shelter, staying and engaging with Hospitality House. These are homeless neighbors that are now staying at our outreach dorm, which in the past rejected the idea of coming by the shelter, or some came by to get warm food or clean clothes but never stayed with us. But thanks to the outreach team and dorm we are now able to meet people where they are at. Not only are guests staying at the outreach dorm, but we are seeing them transition into the outward dorm. Once guests move to the outward dorm, wraparound and case management services become more accessible, increasing the chances of addiction recovery and future sustainable living.
Its hard to offer consistent wraparound services when people are on the streets, without a cellphone or in remote locations, making it harder to follow-up with our homeless neighbors. It’s also challenging to bring people to live at the shelter when they have been living in the woods and on the streets for so long. Sometimes individuals don’t feel comfortable or trusting in living with so many people that they don’t know. But now, we are having more people seeking for help at Utah’s Place because people are realizing that we are compassionate and hospitable to every single person that walks through our doors and that we are here to help them through their own unique journey.
Now, to Bread & Roses Thrift Store! Tomorrow, Saturday, April 6 Bread & Rose has a 50% off storewide sale! We have clothing, shoes, accessories, home goods, electronics, furniture and more! We will open our doors from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. tomorrow. We are located at 840 E. Main Street in Grass Valley by the Big a Root Beer Drive and Sierra Cinemas. Remember that all your purchases directly benefit Hospitality House.
Want to help your community? Then come and join Hospitality House’s team of volunteers! We have many areas where you can help, at Utah’s Place and Bread & Roses Thrift store. We now have new volunteer opportunities at Bread & Roses Thrift store, we are in need of drivers and volunteers to help with donation pickups. This team of volunteers will immensely help us reach out to more folks that want to donate in our community. You can make new friends, while giving back to your community! If you are interested in volunteering, you can call Frank at 530-615-0805 or email Frank@hhshelter.org.
A big thank you to all the volunteer dinner groups who made dinner for 69 hungry folks every night this past week: Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains, Calvary Church, Saint Patricks Church, Sierra Presbyterian Church, Jazzercise, The Home Team and Crossroads Church.
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…
- Men’s winter coats, size L
- Men’s jeans, sizes 32- 36, especially size 34
- Men’s T-shirts, sizes L, XL, and 2X
- Men’s boxers, sizes M and L
- Rain gear
- Warm blankets
- Hair brushes
- Saving cream
- Ibuprofen
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.