My name is Sarah Kinney and I am a shelter and community advocate at Hospitality House, stationed at Utah’s Place, our homeless shelter. One of the biggest responsibilities of an advocate is meeting someone’s needs right on the spot. Advocates have routine encounters with people showing up at our doors in dire need. I personally enjoy providing immediate care and alleviating pain that people are going through. The smallest of help often makes the world of different, such as handing out a bag of food and providing a clean t-shirt. One woman in particular, who has grown considerably at Hospitality House, in both body and mind, is a woman who I’ll refer to as Genie.
Genie knocked on our door one day in need of help and shelter. She lacked mobility at the time as she had severe knee issues. Without transportation, her knee condition worsened by being on her feet throughout the day and walking everywhere she needed to go, including to medical appointments. We extended shelter and transportation to Genie so she could rest more and be on her feet less.
Over the last few months, her strength has greatly improved, and she is back to walking without discomfort. She was also once introverted and now she is more outgoing, taking more accountability, and seeking out more services to get back into housing. Our team helped her establish social security income recently and she is doing well in peer support at Spirit Peer Empowerment Center.
I’m excited to share that this week Genie will move from our shelter into transitional housing and in approximately one more month or so, she’ll be back in permanent housing. I was just talking with her today and she told me, “Hospitality House gave me the footing to know that it is going to get better.”
At Hospitality House, we are so much more than just a homeless shelter. With the help of this community, emotional support, guidance, no judgement and a chance at a better tomorrow are provided. And if you provided help yesterday at our Brunswick Commons donation drive, we thank you!
As of today, we have 16 units at Brunswick Commons sponsored. With 50 people scheduled to move into new housing, it’s not too late to sponsor a family or individual in their new home and many items on our Target registry are still needed. Our registry can be explored in detail here: https://www.target.com/gift-registry/gift/brunswick-commons. Learn more about this opportunity on our website: https://hhshelter.org/special-donation-drive-help-families-and-individuals-celebrate-their-independence-during-independence-week-on-july-7/.
This week, I’d like to give a shoutout to volunteer Hilary Dart for helping with grocery shopping. Currently we are looking for more volunteers interested in helping with our shopping and cooking efforts. To learn about our opportunities, please call (530) 615-0852 or email info@hhshelter.org. A big thank you to our following partners for providing ongoing food and/or financial support: SPD Markets, BriarPatch Food Co-op, Telestream, Interfaith Food Ministry, the Bishop Store (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Nevada City) and Food Bank of Nevada County. We also want to thank all of our community members who have been giving financially in place of donating goods during construction at Utah’s Place. However, we do have a need for the following select items:
- Men’s summer clothing – t-shirts and shorts/pants only
• Depends / adult diapers
• NEW Pillows (must be new)
• Twin-sized bedding, including blankets, sheets, pillowcases, and quilts
To increase safety during construction, donations are no longer being accepted at our shelter. Please drop off your items Monday – Friday, 8:30 am – 5 pm at our admin office, located at 488 Crown Point Circle, Suite 100, Grass Valley, Ca 95945 (the admin office is closed on all major holidays and weekends). 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!