helping HRI

I still feel a little weird, on the outside looking back to my time at Housing Resources. You know when something in your life happens, and then your life changes drastically and all that happened before seems like a lifetime ago? That's what it is like.

I've been trying to think back, to find a good story to write about to inspire you to make a donation to the WALK to end homelessness. But when I think back to that part of my life, all the stories start to run together. They morph into one giant faceless person, with tears in their eyes and a broken heart. No place to call home and no one else to turn to but the strange and slightly awkward me, asking them questions. 

A part of me thinks it is terrible that it is sort of one giant blob. Sure, there are some stories that stick out, but none you haven't already heard. There are no other events, collections and efforts you haven't already supported. 

Maybe the point in being in a new life now isn't to look back and remember all the people in need I met and their terrible stories, but to be able to help them in a different way now. I still struggle with leaving the non-profit world for the for-profit world. Some days I feel guilty. Some days I don't. But most importantly, every day I'm thankful for the new opportunity I was given and that I don't have to put myself in dangerous situations to help someone in need anymore.

I'm on the other side now, because there are people who are still there, putting their blood, sweat and tears into housing someone in need. And the line of people is never ending, here in our little Kalamazoo. So help me give back to the place that helps people find their home, helps them stabilize and find a better life. Even though I'm not there anymore, I know the homeless blob still exists, and they need people like you and me to support them.

Click HERE to go to my fundraising page to make a donation or register to WALK.

Be the change. Make the difference.

walk for the homeless

 
The annual Walk for the Homeless for Housing Resources, Inc. is coming up in March, and although I will not be able to attend (sorry GB!), I am asking for your donations again.

Let me give you a refresher:

HRI is an amazing organization I worked for that helps house homeless individuals and families in the Kalamazoo area. Their mega fundraiser is the WALK where most of the donations go straight to the Eleanor House.

Let me give you another refresher:

I spent almost three years going to the Eleanor House every other morning, speaking to the homeless families staying there, and frantically trying to house them. The Eleanor House is the only homeless shelter in Kalamazoo where families can stay together, marriage or no marriage. Other shelters split the men and the women, with good reason...but also splits up families in doing so.

The Eleanor House has dedicated staff that try so hard to help these families figure out how to stabilize and find a permanent home. While they are doing that, they are organizing chores, making sure the families are looking for jobs or housing, they are keeping up with the house...which is actually a historic home divided into six rooms and two bathrooms. The staff there are like superheros.

This organization and this "temporary home" for Kalamazoo families means a lot to me, and I would like to give back financially since I was not able to stay and continue to fight the good fight. Click HERE to go to my page and make a donation, or join my team and register to WALK!

Be the change. Make the difference.

the demise of my social work career (revised)

(revised) because the first time I tried to write this post I was in the midst of a big change in my life, and what came out was a lot of hurt, frustration and tears. 

So, here is my second attempt at explaining why I left my job at HRI. I have gotten, and continue to get a lot of questions about it. If you are close enough to me, it's not a surprise, but I did have to keep a lot of people I care about deeply in the dark since it meant leaving them. 

I've known for a while I could not stay at HRI forever. Let me be clear that I love everything this organization stands for, and I love the work I did during my time there. 

However, it was easy to see the stress of both the office environment as well as the client stories was something I could not leave at work. I took a lot home with me and struggled often with wanting to change and help people/situations far beyond anything I could actually do.

It was also clear to me that throughout the work I did there, I was often put in situations that were not safe, and dealt with a lot of unstable people that may turn on us at any time. I am willing to do a lot to change the world, but to risk my safety and eventually SOMEDAY the safety of a child, is not worth it to me. 

So I began the long process of figuring out what the next step was for me. I spent a lot of time trying to decide if I should remain in the non-profit world or return to property management. I began applying for jobs in both fields trusting that God would present the next step to me, whatever and wherever it was. 

After hundreds of applications, a few different interviews at other places, and more frustration, I was offered an opportunity to be a Property Manager. It was such a good offer, with lots of room to grow, that I could not pass up.

Of course, leaving HRI was bittersweet. Over almost three years there, I became close to a lot of amazing women that stood by me through an engagement, a wedding, two funerals, my stepmom's breast cancer battle, and hundreds of sad, frustrating, scary client situations. The ones I became closest to I love dearly, and it was truly sad to say goodbye to them. 

That being said, and being a month into my new position, I am so happy that God gave me this new opportunity. So far, I love it! It's a different kind of work, of course, but I have fallen easily back into the property management world. 

I will continue to love and support the people at HRI, and will continue to encourage you to donate and help them as well. Any kind of donations you would like to give (school supplies, personal hygeine items, clothing, household items, etc.) I am more than happy to pass on for you. OR if you would like to make a financial donation you can always visit the website. 

I am so thankful for my time at HRI, all the people I met, the work we did, and the things I learned. I will always be your biggest fan :)

Be the change. Make the difference.

strangers helping strangers.

I have this person I need to thank, and brag about, but am very limited in doing so. The first problem is I have never actually met her in real life! She is my husband’s friends wife…and even though I haven’t met her yet she is doing big things.

She has managed to gather all sizes, shapes and colors of SHOES for our clients, but I can't tell you how. All I can say is she has magical powers to get these items and cannot tell you any more :)

this was my cube at work last week :)

Crazy, right? And sort of cryptic.

But beautiful all the same.

It makes my heart happy to know there are people out there that know they have a way they can make a difference in their community, and they step up to the plate to do just that. 

My husband’s friends wife may never really understand the impact she is having on the lives of families in Kalamazoo. She does not get to see the faces of the families and children when they receive these items. These nice, pretty, almost brand new shoes they would never have been able to get on their own. 

But I get to see their reaction, and it is the greatest thing. 

So thank you to my husband’s friend’s wife and your magical powers. You are doing great things, and our clients are forever grateful to you.

Be the change. Make the difference.

thank you!

 

Thank you to everyone who donated for our WALK this past weekend! We had a great turnout and not bad weather for the end of March in Michigan. 

There are still donations coming in, so we are not sure what the total amount raised is….but I have heard through the grapevine at the office that we may have passed our $10,000-day-of goal!  So that is great! 

Thank you again to Martha, Candy, Jackie, Mom and Dad who all made donations….and especially to Jackie, Mom, Dad and Maddie that braved the cold and walked across Kalamazoo early on Saturday. Check out this picture of Maddie I got…hilarious, right? Clearly she did not WALK, but you get the idea :)

Be the change. Make the difference. 

WALK week.

To say things are a little crazy at the office is a major understatement. People seem to be running from office to office (more so than normal), frantically talking about Saturday, all with pretty blue sweatshirts on. 

There is excitement and extreme jitters. We are excited because the event is always fun, and we have pretty good turnouts. We are jittery because this is our big campaign for fundraising all year. And there are a few small factors that always make us worry about the "good turnout"....mostly the weather. But we are mostly excited :)

I need to thank some moms for donating! My mom, like always, has made a donation to support our efforts to end homelessness in Kalamazoo. AND, my sister's mother in law also donated this week! So many great people in my life that always support me. Thank you Mom and Candy!

Click here to make a donation, or walk the WALK and come out Saturday morning. We meet at 522 Eleanor St. in Kalamazoo (our family shelter), and walk from there starting at 9am. Hope to see you there!

Be the change. Make the difference. 

a few of my favorite things

A few of my favorite (slightly random) things have happened this week!

First, I finally got a picture of my sister's second donation of cord blood! When she had Maddie almost a year ago now, she had already signed up to donate her cord blood. This blood can be used to help cure patients with things like leukemia and lymphoma who are in need of a life saving transplant. Usually, this is just thrown away....so why not donate it to save someone else? Click here if you want more information and you have a bun in the oven/may have one soon :)

Also, said sister donated to our Walking Home fundraiser at work, and is planning to attend! AND her childhood BFF Martha also made a donation!

If you want to make a donation to help house the homeless population in Kalamazoo County, click here. OR please join us for a short 5K walk beginning at our family shelter, the Eleanor House, to help raise awareness. 

Thank you to both Jackie and Marfa-Body for being such amazing role models to me for all of these years. You are amazing! Two separate people donating to two different, really great causes, makes me really happy!

Be the change. Make the difference.

WALK to end homelessness in Kalamazoo!

It's that time of year again! Almost time to WALK to end homelessness :)

Every March, Housing Resources hosts a walk starting from our family shelter (The Eleanor House), and we collect donations and raise money to help us help Kalamazoo. There are many people in need in our community....there was nearly double the amount of requests for assistance in 2014 than there was in 2013. We need your help!

Please join us on March 21st to walk, OR if you would like to make a financial donation click HERE to go to my firstgiving page. 

Your money will go toward helping any or all of the following: families staying in our family shelter, helping families move into their new home from a shelter or helping pay a back rent amount so a family can stay housed.

If you don't want to walk, cannot afford to donate, but still want to help, let me know and I can direct you to our wonderful Galyn...she runs the show and she can find something for you to do!

Be the change. Make the difference. 

Holiday Party

Many many thanks to everyone who helped and/or donated items for our Holiday Party this week! We had our event on Monday and it was so much fun!    

We had dinner, and then each family was able to choose a family craft to work on. They could either decorate a tree or create a snowman family...and they were all so excited about it! 

Then at the end of the night we let the kids go into a separate room to pick out a few gifts to take, which included Beanie Babies from Mom and Aunt Maggie, some fun school supplies from Jackie, some knit hats from Galyn, and various toys. It was so nice to see how excited they got just by these small items. 

I am so thankful we had this opportunity to help celebrate the holiday season with our families in the Program. Thank you again to everyone who pitched in to make this happen! You truly made a difference in the lives of these families!

 Be the change. Make the difference.

beanie babies

Remember all those years ago when everyone went batty over buying every single Beanie Baby in sight?! And remember how we all thought some of them would be worth thousands someday? Well...they are not. 

For those of you who may try and stick it out another 15 years "just in case"...kudos to you. But for now, my mom and Aunt Maggie have both lovingly passed on their collections. I say their collections specifically because while my cousins and I surely drove them crazy wanting every single one, they were the ones to foot the bill for them. 

So I am ever so grateful to have these cuties to pass out to our families next week at our Holiday party as Christmas gifts! I did keep the two that I'm pretty sure were the first ones we ever got...aren't they cute? 

But for the rest of them, each kid will get to pick at least one out to take home with them. Thank you ladies, you are the best :)

Be the change. Make the difference. 

Holiday party!

As many of you know, I have been working on a new program at work which focuses on stabilizing families so children do not have to face homelessness and move schools. 

Unfortunately, a lot of our families are in a financial position where they have to choose what to spend their money on. More often than not, our families go without “extra” items, like school supplies and cleaning items, because they need items like food and warm clothes. If you only have so much money to spend, you have to choose what is most important for your family at that time.

In the fall, we collected school supplies for our first family event so we could make sure our kids were prepared for the new school year. We received A TON of school stuff, and were happy to not only send seventeen kids home stocked with school supplies from our Back to School bash, but we continue to pass out items families need at our monthly check in meetings. 

Thank you to Jackie, mom's Bible study group, Dad, Barbie, Ryan and Amanda for making this possible! 

We are now in the stages of planning a Holiday event for our families and are looking for donations again. We would like to have a stash of small gifts that the kids can choose from, and are asking for any type of small toys, books, etc. for them to choose from. We currently have twenty three families, which equals fifty eight kids. Hopefully we can collect enough that each child can at least take one item. 

If you are interested in donating a small gift please let me know! Our party is on December 15^th, so I would need your donations by December 12^th at the latest. 

Be the change. Make the difference.

all the reasons why.

In case you haven't been convinced Housing Resources needs YOUR help to continue helping homeless individuals in Kalamazoo county, here are some more reasons:

*Most of the money raised at our annual WALKING HOME event goes directly to our family shelter, the Eleanor House.

*HRI is a non-profit organization. We NEED donations in order to function and continue to serve those in need.

*Even with putting $1 million on the street last year, there is still a constant need of assistance in our county

*At any point, any family is just one crisis situation away from getting behind on rent/bills. 

*You want me to still have a job, right? :)

*In 2013, from January to October, the Eleanor House received 3,352 calls from people in need of shelter

*In the same time frame, the Eleanor House served sixty families. This translates to 142 children and 213 individuals. 

To make a donation online, click here OR you can get your donations to me by March 22nd OR you can come walk with us on March 22nd! We will meet at our family shelter, the Eleanor House.

Be the change. Make the difference. 

and then she said.

I was in the middle of an intake interview, going over our standard questions to find out how to best assist this client. She was four months pregnant with her fourth child, my age, and living in Kalamazoo's domestic violence shelter.

She told me all about her story and that her older kids were living with her mom due to the domestic violence issues with their dad. She was currently staying in the shelter, hiding from the father of the new baby.

She made a comment about thinking my wedding ring was pretty. And then she said, "Is married life fun?"

A lot of times, people say crazy things to me in these interviews...tell me crazy or heartbreaking or horrifying stories. And most of the time I don't blink, and don't baulk. But this simple question caught me so off guard that I completely forgot my train of thought.

Because here I am, a twenty-something year old with an amazing husband who I love being married to and is my best friend. And there she was, sitting across from me, the same age. And she had never been with a man that didn't hit her. She has never known any other type of relationship.

So when she asked this question, I didn't know how to react. Is she wondering what a marriage without abuse is like? Is she wondering what it's like to have a consistent partner to stand by your side? Does she even know that love doesn't have to be that way? That loving someone doesn't have to come with the bruises and scars and fear?

I'm not even sure I answered her really. Sometimes the amount of help some of these people need is overwhelming...and I know it's far beyond anything I can give them. But sometimes, it really weighs on me. 

To help people like her, and others in need in Kalamazoo County, click here to donate to HRI. We are constantly running around thinking of ways to help our clients, but we can't do it without funding. OR come out and WALK HOME with us on March 22nd. 

Be the change. Make the difference. 

hearts for the homeless.

If you are in the Kalamazoo area and would like to help Housing Resources but will not be able to participate in the Walk on March 22nd, we have a solution for you. 

All you have to do is visit one of the Main Street Pub locations in the Kalamazoo area any time after February 22nd, and buy a heart for the homeless. They are just $1 and you can write your name or message on them, and your support for HRI will be posted in that location. AND you can eat delicious things like chicken fingers while supporting us! How easy is that?

If you would like do donate to the Walk, click here to go to my fundraising page and make an online donation now.  Special thanks to Mike and Sandy who donated and continuously support me and my endeavors! You are awesome :) 

Be the change. Make the difference.

didn't we just fix that problem

It's another day at the office and I'm sitting in another intake interview, hearing someones story about how they ended up here. How they ended up sitting in an office telling their story to me, a stranger, hoping for help to get their own home again. The reasons for homelessness and emergency situations range from domestic violence issues, house fires, prison time, overcrowded units, condemned units, job loss, disabilities...and the list goes on.

Every time we house someone, I'm proud for the work we did to get them there, and hope we don't meet them again...at least not in our office. Every time I hear a story that breaks my heart, and we get them safely stably housed, I'm proud.

Until the next person comes in, with a similar story and the same urgent need. And I'm sitting there thinking didn't we just fix this? Didn't we just solve this situation?

It's an overwhelming, sad feeling. Hearing stories and solving problems, just for a new batch of stories and problems to come in. And the appointments never end and the tears never stop once they start talking. 

What do we do?

We have to keep fighting. Yes, the line never ends. But yes, we are making progress. We are helping a lot of people. We are making a difference. And we have to keep fighting.

Click here to donate to HRI and help homeless individuals in Kalamazoo County. 

Be the change. Make the difference. 

walking home.

By now you have all heard my ramblings about my work at Housing Resources, Inc. I was offered a position there almost a year and a half ago, and quickly realized it was pretty much my dream job :) I spend all day running around with a handful of other passionate people, trying to help the homeless population in Kalamazoo County. 

HRI helps these people by either taking them off the street/out of shelter and helping them become stably housed, or preventing them from being evicted from their current housing. We are a non-profit that depends on federal and state grants, as well as donations. 

On March 22, we are having our annual fundraiser, WALKING HOME to end homelessness. I just set up my fundraising page and am hoping to personally raise more than last year ($418)...and our overall organization goal is to raise $100,000. 

If you would like to make a donation click here to go to my page and/or you can let me know if you want to WALK with us and you can make your donation then. In the next month and a half, I will be telling you more about all we do and why it's so important for us to reach our goal this year.

Be the change. Make the difference.

break

Don't get me wrong...I am incredibly grateful for a full, paid week off over Christmas. But this time around seemed a little bit harder to stomach. 

Last year at this time, I had just started at Housing Resources. I was excited and still very unaware of the problems my eyes would be opened up to. I was still learning the ropes and getting to know my place in the organization.

After a year and some change, believe it or not, I'm still excited. But I've seen the problems first hand. Heard the stories of sadness and pain. Cried with clients as they tell their story. Celebrated with clients as they walk into their new home for the first time. 

The shelters I so desperately wanted to help with before, I know in and out. I've been in all of them. Seen people come in and out of them. Watched people go back to them, despite all our efforts. The one I now call my own now has a huge place in my heart, that I know years from now will never go away.

So leaving it all...closing the files for a full week of relaxing just seemed a little off to me. Leaving clients there, wherever there might be for them tonight, is a little harder this year. We've put everything into these families, these people, these children. And the need is still, always there. There is no break, in many cases. 

I've come around to the fact that I can't help everyone. I worry too much about the things I cannot change. The people I can't change, their history I can't trade, their actions after they leave my office. 

I know my coworkers and I deserve this time. Time to recover and re-energize. We did all we could in 2013, and I believe we'll do that much more and then some in 2014. I've said this before and over this break I believe it more than ever. When there's nothing else we can do, we can pray. 

Be the change. Make the difference. 

thank you!

I'd like to thank all of those who donated to Housing Resources this holiday season who helped make our clients Christmas a memorable one. With your donations, we were able to provide several families with gifts who otherwise may not have had anything to give on Christmas day. Your support and generosity is much appreciated :)

Merry Christmas!  <3 Thanks for making 2013 a great one.

Be the change. Make the difference.

a different kind of shopping

One of the things that the staff at the Eleanor House does is they put together a shopping room for the parents currently staying at our shelter. Some of the donations you provided us with will go into a room at the House, where parents can go in and pick out gifts for their children. Then, the parents are able to wrap the presents in time to give to their children on Christmas day. 

My dad and stepmom gave me a cash donation, so I bought a little more specific gifts for our families currently staying there. It allowed the flexibility to think of the ages of the kids we have there now and what gift they might like to open. The items below will be in our shopping room for the parents to pick out. 

Along with a cash donation, they also gave several rolls of wrapping paper for the parents to use. Thanks Dad and Susie for your generosity and support to families in need...you are wonderful!

Be the change. Make the difference.

beanie babies!

Remember these guys?! The craze that drove the world insane...hunting and standing in lines just to get the latest purple hippo. I was a demanding little elementary school kid when Beanie Babies were cool, and my father will always remind me of the time I tried to convince him to buy me this one specific bear. My reasoning was "But Dad! It's only $150!" 

Seriously. One hundred and fifty dollars. For a bear.

Regardless of the craze they sent us into, or how many silly attempts at convincing our parents to buy just one more....the trend is long gone. That's why a long time family friend of ours, Deb, decided to donate her collection to HRI. 

These animals are in great condition and they are perfect for our gift box at the office. We have had several little ones on their way out of their appointment stop and pick up their favorite animal to take home. Thanks Deb for your donation! You are great :)

If you'd like to donate items to HRI, our Rickman House or the Eleanor House, get your items to me by the end of this week. 

Be the change. Make the difference.