Journey Home Friends,
We are so amazed at the numerous people and agencies who have responded in so many ways to help protect people experiencing homelessness during this pandemic. There are so many people to thank:
- Thank you to Bank of America and American Eagle Credit Union for waiving fees for getting documents notarized for those experiencing homelessness so that they can complete the paperwork required to get housing.
- Thank you to Hartford Flavor Company for quickly making us 5 gallons of hand sanitizer at a deep discount.
- Thank you to ImmaCare for providing staffing at one of the hotel sites and for working with the CT Department of Housing to repurpose $60,000 to be available in funding for this effort.
- Thank you to Community Renewal Team, Juniper Homecare, Community Health Resources, and Cornerstone Foundation for providing meals to the hotel sites where we have placed elderly and immunocompromised individuals who were in the shelters.
- Thank you to Elaine’s Bar & Grill of Wethersfield, Filomena’s of Manchester, and Bear’s Smokehouse of Hartford for temporarily providing many meals to newly hoteled individuals while we were working on a more permanent solution.
- Thank you to the City of New Britain and the City of Hartford for providing police officers to assist with homeless outreach services.
- Thank you to South Park Inn for providing thermometers to one hotel site and partner agencies, as well as for assisting with transitioning clients from the Enfield Warming Center to hotels.
- Thank you to Salvation Army who is working on a partnership with Safelink to provide phones for individuals or families who are experiencing homelessness who do not have one.
- Thank you to the area hotels who have so graciously stepped in and helped us provide a safe and comfortable place for those who are experiencing homelessness.
- Thank you to Day Pitney for offering incredible legal guidance as we navigate these uncertain times.
- Thank you to South Park Inn for providing “welcome kits” of necessary personal care items to all those who will be moving from the shelters to the hotel.
- Thank you to all of you who have donated supplies.
- Thank you to all of our partner agencies in our region for going above and beyond during this crisis.
Volunteers, donors and staff have made the impossible possible by creatively sourcing some of these harder to find items. Thanks to all of you and your generosity, Journey Home has collected and distributed to 13 partner agencies the following supplies:
- 3,900 gloves
- 15 bottles of hand sanitizer
- 605 ounces of bleach
- 6,000 mL of disinfectant
- 126 rolls of toilet paper
- 18 rolls of paper towels
- 256 ounces of hand soap
Finally, we are so grateful to The City of Hartford who has agreed to pay for several hotel rooms for vulnerable individuals, as well as to The State of Connecticut, which has agreed to terms for a contract with a hotel in Hartford to which we will be able to relocate 150-200 people experiencing homelessness. We are hoping that signed contracts will follow shortly, and that the relocation process will begin immediately after the contracts are signed. This will be an enormous undertaking by numerous community partners, and we certainly cannot do this or any of this great work without your support.
There are many others who have helped in so many ways, and we apologize for not naming them all here, but will do our best to acknowledge them as soon as we can. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our Director of Development and Communications, Sara Salomons Wilson, with any questions or if you are interested in finding out how you can help. Sara can be reached at sara.salomons@journeyhomect.org.
Sincerely,
Matt and the entire Journey Home team