In Greater Hartford’s 100-day challenge to house 100 chronically homeless people, consider what that means. That’s 100 people — at least — who are moving into apartments with nothing more than what they’ve carried on their backs.
Pictured just above is Sal Pinna. He’s one of the people who’s about to be housed after 20 years on the streets. Sal’s in a program that will give him a small stipend, but several of us are collecting household goods, anyway. Not everyone will get even that kind of boost. So Sara Capen Salomons, of Journey Home (and a good friend), is reaching out to faith groups to consider getting involved with the newly-housed people. Here’s part of the email she sent out earlier today:
We would ask that you consider supporting one chronically homeless individual. So, what exactly does that mean? Journey Home will match your faith community with a specific individual and his/her case manager, a designated person from your faith community will make contact with the individual who is moving into housing to determine needs, you will gather the needed donated supplies from members of your community, and you will deliver supplies to the individual you are supporting in his/her new home.This is an incredible opportunity for you for so many reasons. It is truly a multi-generational activity that everyone can be involved in, it will answer a crying need within our community, it offers you the opportunity to do something very tangible within the community, it’s very practical, and it makes homelessness OUR issue.I hope that you and your church leaders will seriously consider embarking on this initiative with us as we help people on their journey home.