Come join us for a fun 5k run!

Ragged Mountain Running Shop, Virginia National Bank, & The Haven present:

RUN FOR HOME – a 5k run through downtown Charlottesville for the benefit of The Haven!

February 25, 2012 7:00am
Run starts at 7:30 at
The Haven
112 West Market Street
Charlottesville

Lightning-fast runners, superfast runners, slow & steady runners, runners in training, walkers and wanderers all welcome!

REGISTER at our convenient and informative event site: www.runforhome5k.com

Join us for a lovely breakfast afterwards!
Get a RUN FOR HOME cinch sack full of treats!
Help out the community with your family & friends!

See you on February 25, 2012 for RUN FOR HOME!

Summertime is easy…or so we’ve heard. But for Haven guests, the summer was all about ACTION! Amazing things happened for our guests this summer. Their determination and resilience made us humble and proud. We celebrate all those who took a step to change their lives. We are glad to share this community with you.

17 Guests found jobs:

• E.C. got a job as a flagman and is paid up current with his child support.
• T.J. got a job at Lacey.
• T.S. got a job at Waffle House.
• A. got a job at Expresso.
• R.A. got a job at a call center.
• S.S. got a job as a full-time assistant chef at Maya.
• G.W. got a job with a painting company & is in a supportive housing program.
• J.C. got a job as a substitute teacher and a place to stay at Oxford House.
• B.R., T.H. & M.P. got a jobs at John Paul Jones arena.
• C.R. got a job with food services at UVA.
• R.E. is doing some contracting work.
• E.M. got a full-time job as a cook in a daycare – using her Haven culinary arts certificate!
• W.L. got a job as a welder.
• W.G. got FT job.
• G.G. got a job at Dunkin Donuts.

10 Guests engaged in substance abuse treatment:

• W.L. graduated from residential substance abuse treatment.
• T.S., R.B., R.A., M.S., P.G., C.S., E.G., & C.P. went into substance abuse treatment.
• K. H. moved out of a place where people were using drugs and into a safe place.

10 Guests found housing:

• K.B., S.D., T.S., C.K., S.S., D.B., R.T., W.A., W.L. found housing.
• P.G. got into a supportive housing program.

4  Guests got into school:

• J.T. passed the GED with flying colors & had an interview at Pizza Hut for an assistant manager job yesterday.
• B.B. enrolled in Piedmont Virginia Community College & tested out of English class.
• P.A. got his ID and enrolled in school.
• K.H. graduated from truck-driving school.

23 Guests took steps to improve their lives:

• L.K. returned home to Michigan to reunite with her family.
• A.J. finally got his school transcripts, which he needs to get his ID.
• 8 people showed up for the first re-entry peer-to-peer support group in the sanctuary.
• H.K.  & D.K. got much-needed dental work thanks to the Charlottesville Free Clinic.
• A.S., R.W., J.T., N.B. & H.H.  got paired with a volunteer job coach from the Blue Ridge Mountain Rotary club.
• S.L. got a call from his daughter for the first time in 6 years.
• Two guests got eyeglasses and exams thanks to Lenscrafters.
• B.A. got approved for disability.
• M.H. & W.B. enrolled in the new Ready, Set, Cook culinary arts program.

This is exciting stuff, to be sure!

Our Sanctuary hosted several community events in the last quarter including Ash Lawn Opera Recitals, a series of classes held by City Market on canning, Portico Church Ice Cream Socials, As You Like It AA Home Group meetings, NA meetings, two Re-entry Support Groups, Peabody School Graduation, a community choir, yoga classes, a women’s support group, 2 art-making workshops, and the Charlottesville Community Drumming Choir, among others.

Haven staff are busy helping guests get qualified for the The Crossings SRO operated by Virginia Supportive Housing and prepare for the PACEM emergency shelter season. We are considering some changes in programming for this fall to include a low-barrier morning, open to all, based on behavior, and a more structured afternoon open to all who agree to a period of change in their lives, service at The Haven through cooking and cleaning, and engagement in readiness programming including MACAA’s financial literacy trainings, job coaching, resume development, conflict resolution classes and goal-setting workshops. These services have always been offered but we hope that this structured approach will improve engagement. We are still working out the details now but will share the final structure as it develops. We are pleased that this change was initiated by Haven guests, volunteers and community members!

What are our expectations of people experiencing homelessness? Some people expect gratitude and grace at even the smallest offering. Some expect peaceful connection all the time. Some suggest that homeless people should be out of sight.

What is reasonable? What is compassionate?

Here are some articles that have considered these questions:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/us/31keywest.html – an article about Key West in the NY Times

http://www.radioproject.org/2010/12/how-%E2%80%98quality-of-life%E2%80%99-turned-homeless-new-yorkers-into-criminals/ – a response to New York City’s ‘quality of life’ laws

http://www.streetnewsservice.org/news/2011/april/feed-274/homeless-arrests-rise,-solutions-slow-to-come.aspx – a piece on Nashville’s response to homelessness

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/publications/crimreport/introduction.html – national report on the criminalization of homelessness

http://www.sandiego.gov/police/prevention/homeless.shtml - San Diego Police Department’s advice on how to deal with homeless people

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/homeless-advocates-attempt-improve-uneasy-relationship-citys-criminal-justice-syst  – article on a task force created in Nashville to advise on police/homeless relations

http://www.civic-strategies.com/onlib/lessons/07.html – a straightforward editorial on what works

This is clearly not an easy issue but it is one that deserves our time and energy. Please start a conversation with your family, friends and neighbors. Find out what they think it is the right community response to homelessness and to those experiencing homelessness. Ask them what you can do and they can do to continue this conversation. Let’s figure this out together.

In January 2010, a local developer gave The Haven a wonderful gift – use of a two acre spot to make a community garden! We started scheming and planning, hoping and wishing, thinking and pondering…and then we got to work.We were lucky to have the help of our PATCH Community Garden volunteers, the good folks at Blue Ridge Backyard Harvest, the Building Goodness Foundation, J & E Berkley Foundation, and many Haven guests in the creation, maintenance and harvest of our happy and productive community garden. We managed obstacles (a hungry groundhog), built infrastructure (a shed), implemented ‘green’ strategies (a water catchment system), and reveled in the amazing process of growing our  own food from dry little seeds. Here is our story in pictures:

But we have been challenged for providing this respite care. We have been called names like warehouse of despair and flophouse. These things couldn’t be farther from the truth, of course. Volunteers often remark that they are surprised to find The Haven a cheerful, hopeful place. One has even said that volunteering at The Haven is among the happiest hours he has every week. And, while it is important that The Haven provide a supportive, caring environment, it is not the only thing we do. So, to the numbers:

In the last year:

46 guests have gotten jobs

24 guests have gotten into substance abuse treatment

19 have found housing

13 have obtained government-issued IDs

7 guests have enrolled in community college or GED preparation

3 guests have been placed in community employment programs

And The Haven has served as a placement site for 13 people completing community service through Drug Court, Offender Aid & Restoration, or VIEW.

This kind of change is really hard work so, our hats are off to these guests who have taken advantage of all The Haven has to offer and made a change in their lives!!

And we thank all the community agencies who helped to make these changes possible by providing case management, access, information and opportunities to homeless and very poor people in our community.

Dear Haven,

You do not know how much you mean to me! Without this place, I would be in the street with nothing or any place to place or receive calls.

I used the computers and within 4 weeks…I have gotten a job. This means so much.

My name is D. I wish and hope that you are here for everyone, always. Everyone needs a hand out no matter how proud we are. Pride can, and is very hard to swallow. If a person has a phone # or a message phone, it makes it a lot easier to not be on the street.

Without The Haven, I would not have been able to have clean clothes or a warm place to come to. I also would not have been able to call on my applications I put in. I thank The Haven from the bottom of my heart. It’s hard to swallow your pride but with The Haven, I have not had to for long.

Thank you.

D.

When V heard that we were having a volunteer celebration in January, she said she wanted us to tell her story to our fabulous volunteers. She said she wanted to say thanks. She said she had things to say. Here is what she wrote:

I wanted to be here tonight, but my school commitment would not allow that to happen. Therefore, I asked Steve to read this to all of you. So, please take a moment and stand-up. If I was here tonight, I would shake hands with each and every one of you and tell you thank-you. If not for you, The Haven would not be here. I first became acquainted with The Haven in late July of last year. B., our three dogs and myself were evicted from our home and were living in a campsite. I personally have never felt homeless, that’s just a word for me. Our campsite was our home and it was filled with love and support.

In December, it was destroyed, our dogs placed with the SPCA through Animal Control, and we went into PACEM (this community’s emergency shelter). Since being at The Haven, it gave me an opportunity to take a shower, do our laundry, store our clean clothes, and look for work. I had no computer skills as I had always been a server. Trying to put an application online was like trying to navigate New York City on a bicycle! I looked at the numerous volunteers who helped me on the computer. I’d  like to thank R. for the wonderful resume which helped me get employed. There are some of you who have really gone out of the way for me and I certainly appreciated it. Thanks S. and M. for your undying care and concern. Thanks to Charlottesville Health Access that helped Bobby with medical issues and my dental issues. There are 385 volunteers here at The Haven and between you, over 900 hours of community service. Pat yourselves on the back as that is impressive.

I talked to some folks who were doing a documentary on The Haven. I said being homeless to me is sleeping on the grass with a piece of cardboard under your head. In this community, you can have 3 square meals and be clean. If you walk around dirty and hungry, then you have lost your own self-respect and nobody can give that to you. I feel that being an advocate is the best I can do to let this community know that there are success stories, I know I am one of them.

I would like to let you all know how much your support on my school success means to me and its priceless.

Do you have questions about homelessness? Like – why do people become homeless? how do people become homeless? once someone is homeless, will they always be homeless? are all homeless people the same – do they all have the same problems? can we actually end homelessness? Well, I am glad you asked! A person could spend their whole life studying these questions, but you don’t have to – lots of other people, smart people, did the work for you. Below is a list of articles, with links when we could find them, and books, and even some movies, that will help you understand homelessness. Not everybody agrees about the answers to the weighty questions we started out with, so, read with a critical mind. But, please do read. The world needs more people who are willing to look beyond the headline, the tidy soundbite, to truly wrestle with big questions and big problems.  Enjoy!

Housing first & the question of how to resolve chronic homelessness: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/a-plan-to-make-homelessness-history/

Who is hungry? http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/12/13/food.insecurity.holidays.middle.class/index.html

On the question of mental illness, incarceration & homelessness: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/released/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=proglist&utm_source=proglist

How homeless folks can remain members of the community: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-12-13-libraries13_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip&POE=click-refer

What happens when people are reminded that homeless people aren’t necessarily crooks: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?cl=23097576

Overcoming homelessness: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1315879/Homeless-Harvard-How-daughter-drug-addicts-defied-odds-Ivy-League-graduate.html

The link between income inequality, poverty & homelessness: http://www.slate.com/id/2267157/

Family homelessness is on the rise: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/us/12shelter.html?_r=2&hp

What the Federal government is doing about homelessness: http://www.ich.gov

The costs of emergency services for the homeless: http://www.gladwell.com/2006/2006_02_13_a_murray.html

Please join us for our next Volunteer Orientation to learn more about becoming a volunteer at The Haven at First & Market.

Twice a month, usually on a Friday afternoon

2:30pm

The Sanctuary at The Haven

Please let us know you are coming by e-mailing Stephen at stephen@tjach.org

See you there!