Announcements:
- Boys & Girls Club Blue Door Bash was Saturday March 2nd. The Club filled a table of 10.
- Boys & Girls Club AIM - March 13 at 4:00PM-4:45PM. You should have received an email to sign up to volunteer at the B&G Club. AIM is a chance for you to help an elementary child during BGCCR's Power Hour program. Power Hour is BGCCR's primary education program. Our most recent AIM activity was helping the kids create and write valentines cards for their parents/teachers/grandparents. Other activities have included bingo math, word searches, reading, educational worksheets, etc. We are looking for 6-8 volunteers to come to the Boys & Girls Club's South Unit at First Congregational Church the second Wednesday of each month.
- Food packaging - April 18. We will be working with Take Away Hunger.
- Lager ‘Lympics – Saturday, June 15 at NewBo City Market. You will soon being hearing updates from committee chairs on sponsorships so start thinking about who you could ask to support this awesome event!
- Patti Kunz will be recognized as a Corridor Business Journal Woman of Influence on April 4. Congrats, Patti!
Make a Difference: Tom Patterson volunteered to take food to the Ronald McDonald House.
Speaker: Sharon Anderson introduced our speaker, Phoebe Trepp, Executive Director of Willis Dady.
Willis Dady is a local organization with a 31-year history of working to prevent and end homelessness. Phoebe began with an overview of homelessness in our area. More than half of the homeless are employed. Their homelessness may be due to low income and having no support system. Willis Dady was started by an ex-homeless veteran, and initially served single men. They expanded their services to include women and children, and added case managers about 12 years ago. They have also added crisis management, where they intervene before someone finds themselves homeless. One example is by working with landlords to make rent payment arrangements until the tenant is back on their feet.
Willis Dady has recently added a new wing to their facility, and is remodeling the remainder. They will have 57 beds total once complete. The existing facility had issues with wheelchair accessibility and no storm shelter. They are able to make these improvements due to a capital campaign that finished in 2017.
Of the homeless population, typically 80-90% are homeless for the first time. The chronically homeless only make up 10-20% of that population. Willis Dady started a permanent supportive housing program, where chronically homeless persons pay rent and bills with observation by a case manager. This builds rent history which helps those individuals transition to permanent housing on their own. They purchased a house in Wellington Heights for this purpose.
Willis Dady also started a street outreach program in 2018. Some individuals simply do not want or may not be allowed to be placed in a shelter. Therefore, Willis Dady looks to assist those individuals with immediate needs such as food, water, or blankets.
One poignant observation Phoebe made was that veterans make up a higher percentage of homeless persons compared to non-homeless. This underscores the need to find permanent housing solutions for those who have served our country. Willis Dady coordinates with the other area shelters to help meet the immediate need.
To learn how to help, visit their website at www.willisdady.org. There you will find inspiring videos and a multitude of ways to assist this vital program.
