We are a proud partner in National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week, taking
place this year November 11-19, 2017. This is a chance to educate our
community, draw attention to the problem of homelessness, and recruit new
volunteers and supporters for local anti-poverty agencies.
During that week, we will
launch recruitment for the annual Point-in-Time Homeless Count, which will
be on the night of January 25, 2018. Stay tuned, since we will need
1,500(!) volunteers. That means you!
As part of the City of Dallas' annual It's
My Park on Nov 4, 2017, the Elmwood Neighborhood Association
is endeavoring to bring awareness to the issue of homelessness. The event
starts at 9am at the park on Elmwood between Mountain Creek
Lake and Elmwood/Rugged.
For more info and/or to volunteer, contact Janet Smith, 214-543-5847, jsmith@aidsdallas.org.
Bedstart deliver beds and furnishings to households coming out
of crisis. They meet every Saturday morning at 7:45am and are typically
done noon. They would love to have new volunteers join the effort. The Bedstart
shed is located in the overflow parking lot directly across the street from
Custer Road UMC, 6601 Custer Road,
Plano, TX, 75023. For more info, contact Doug
Nickols, director@bedstart.org.
The annual Promise House Sleep Out - A Night Under the
Stars is a longstanding and excellent event. This year, it will
be held the night of November 9, 2017. Click through for more details.
City House will be holding a donation drive on November
11, 2017. Check their Facebook page for
details.
The City of Dallas Office
of Homeless Solutions is holding a Welcome Basket Drive for folks
moving into housing. They will be collecting items to build the baskets, November
8-December 8, 2017. Contact Mariah Cross, mariah.cross@dallascityhall.com,
for more details.
This week being National Hunger and Homelessness
Awareness Week, there were two events focusing on teen homelessness. Yesterday,
the MDHA Youth Task Force, along with Promise House and other partners held the
Dallas See Me Now - Teens without Homes event. Today, the Collin County
Homeless Coalition, along with City House and other partners held the Collin
See Me Now - Teens without Homes event. Both events were tremendously
informative, featuring expert panels, and the executive directors of Promise
House, Dr. Harriet Boorhem, and City House, Teresa Keenan respectively. The
most meaningful part of each event was hearing from teens served by both
agencies.
The Dallas
event featured a transgendered teen, and through that showcased something
Keenan mentioned too, that some teens are forced out of their homes due to
their sexual identity. The Collin event featured Colette Williams, of Traffick
911, who highlighted an issue touched upon at the Dallas event too, that teens experiencing
homelessness are at a tremendous risk of being trafficked.
At both events speakers emphasized that at the end of the day, all of the
important work we are all doing in the area of homelessness is no substitute
for a meaningful affordable housing and anti-poverty policy.
Happily the media is covering these events, which hopefully will lead to more
awareness. Check out, for instance, this KERA piece:
http://keranews.org/post/dallas-county-has-more-5000-homeless-students
