My name is Angela Degliantoni and I’m the Supervising CMSP Case Manager at Hospitality House. I specialize in working one-on-one with guests and helping them build a case management plan to return to stability and housing as well as helping guests access much-needed medical.
For many of our guests, Hospitality House’s assistance doesn’t end once they are housed. The care provided often continues for years after they have moved into permanent housing. As an example of the type of ongoing case management services I facilitate, I’d like to tell you a story about a man we’ll call William.
William is a 79-year-old housed veteran I meet with once a week as part of my client rotation. On one of my recent trips to see him, he mentioned he had been experiencing severe tooth and mouth pain. I informed Janella, Hospitality House’s Social Services Manager, and together we worked to access funds through our Homeless Veterans Housing Program to pay for William’s dental care. Shortly after, William was able to see a dentist, who concluded that the tooth needed to be extracted by an oral surgeon. Thanks to our veterans’ program, which is sustained through local donors and veterans in the community, we could continue with William’s care and have the tooth removed at no cost to William. He is now healing fast and can chew normally again. William is back to the animated, conversational person I look forward to seeing each week.
To learn more about our Veterans Housing Program, which offers services like emergency shelter and housing assistance to veterans and their families facing homelessness, visit hhshelter.org/veterans-housing. Additionally, if anyone would like to help William or additional men, women and children in need, this month we have an ambitious goal to welcome 25 new Hearts & Hands Club members. Hearts & Hands is a group of individuals who donate every month to support the efforts of Hospitality House. Club donations are allocated toward the greatest needs each month, including but not limited to shelter, food, clothing, outreach, housing assistance, case management, job training and emergency preparedness in response to COVID-19. You can become an honored club member by donating as little as $5 per month and change a life in the process. Learn more about the club at hhshelter.org/hearts-hands-club/ and sign up today!
Normally at this time, we thank all the cook groups who came and cooked over the last week, but to keep our shelter safe, our cooking groups are supporting our meals by donating financial support and food, and Chef Gina is safely cooking all meals instead. We’d like to thank the Universalist Unitarian Community of the Mountains, Gold Country Calvary Church, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, Sierra Pines, Kitchen KutUps, Repeat Offenders, BriarPatch Food Co-Op, and SPD Markets for all their recent help.
Due to increased COVID-19 cases and a construction project at Utah’s Place, donations of goods are still temporarily suspended to protect the people we serve and the greater community. Thanks to the members of our community who gave so generously during the holidays, we are able to enter this pause in donations with well-stocked shelves. In place of donations of goods, we encourage those who are still interested in giving to consider making a financial contribution at hhshelter.org/donate. We greatly appreciate the community’s help at such times of uncertainty. In the words of Utah Phillips, “If we all stick together, we’ll get what we need.” Thank you!