| I had no idea how an innocent phone conversation with a reporter could affect my day. I have a better understanding of the power of the press. This has been another very busy day. Volunteers arrived at 9:00 to continue the sorting and packaging of donated clothing. More volunteers arrived after lunch time. We built a couple of display racks to make it easier for people to access the clothing. The phone has been ringing off the hook in response to this article and I expect that to continue through tomorrow | |
| Goodyear church opens doors to help homeless Rich Ott assistant editor Gary Smith is hoping hundreds of homeless people descend upon his church, Desert Springs Community at 14440 W. Indian School Road in Goodyear Thursday. And the same amount of volunteers would be nice, too. Smith, one of the church's resident missionaries, is overseeing the Valley of the Sun United Way outreach program, Project Homeless Connect, as it comes to Desert Springs Community from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday. The event will feature 39 human service providers for the homeless, Smith said. The church will also allow the homeless to use its showers, he said, and haircuts will be made available to them as well as a hot lunch. Plus, Smith said his office is knee-deep in donated clothing and shoes for the homeless. However, Smith wants to make sure they have enough for all the homeless, so anyone can still drop off "good serviceable clothing and shoes" today or Wednesday for the event, he said. And "if we get things beyond [Thursday's event], we know where to place them." Smith is also hoping to pair every homeless person with one volunteer. "We can use volunteers all day long," Smith said. "We want to pair up clients one on one with someone who will guide them and take them to the person [service provider] they need to see." Volunteers can work either a morning shift, 7 a.m. to noon, an afternoon shift, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., or all day. Smith said they will even take someone who can only spare an hour or two. "We need people to be able to see the need and respond to it," he said. "One of the solutions to homelessness is community involvement." Many homeless will be bused to the event by grassroots organizations that assist the homeless, said Roxanne Bravo, public relations coordinator for Valley of the Sun United Way. Plus, Smith said fliers about the event were distributed weeks ago to local city police departments and fire departments, so if they came in contact with anyone who might be homeless, they could hand out the flier. "Lots and lots of services are available to the homeless," Smith said, "but they are so spread out, it's hard to access them." Enter Project Homeless Connect. "They come to [Project Homeless Connect] and can reach more than 35 service providers all in one day," Bravo said. The event was conducted twice last year in central Phoenix where it assisted more than 220 homeless people, she said. This year the Valley of the Sun United Way decided to expand to the West and East valleys. "We decided to go to as many areas as we can reach," Bravo said. "This is to benefit them. A lot of homeless individuals don't seek aid because they can't reach [service providers] or they don't know they exist." On any given day, the amount of homeless people in Maricopa County reaches 8,500. The United Way invested more than $2.5 million last year to programs designed to help the homeless, Bravo said. To get involved, visit the Web site www.vsuw.org/volunteer, call the church at 623-435-2105 or just show up, Smith said.
Rich Ott can be reached by e-mail at rott@westvalleyview.com | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment