Family Awards Banquet a homerun…
The night was crisp and cool – you could feel the energy in the air. Cheers went up – the crowd went wild for each one of the families in our programs that were there that night. It’s one of the most special parts of what we get to do – celebrate successes that many thought would never come. Often emotional, always joyful, we heard stories about moms and dads pressing through incredible odds to do anything – everything – to give a new life to their kids (and themselves). We were joined by Rhubarb the Reindeer, the mascot for the Tacoma Rainiers – lots of fun, and a great sport…he had to be cooking in his, um, skin.
In chatting with a volunteer afterwards, she and her daughter told me about one of the families they were sitting with. As his case manager talked about the victories of his family, this tough-looking man’s eyes brimmed with tears. Dots connected – how important this work is. And that they got to be a part of it? That’s something really special.
Changing lives and strengthening families – that’s what it means to end family homelessness. Not mere buildings or programs or resources…it’s lives changed one at a time. Thank you for all you do to help us serve these families – we couldn’t do it without you!
$70,000 more to help families in crisis – thank you Paul G. Allen Family Foundation!
This Puyallup Herald article features Helping Hand House and our partnership with the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Enjoy! (or read it here)
Puyallup-area homeless advocates get $70,000
Paul Allen Foundation grant should help about 125 families this year
Neil Pierson/of The Herald
Published: February 3rd, 2010 06:00 AMA four-month-long waiting game concluded happily for Puyallup’s Helping Hand House on Jan. 26 when it received a $70,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
Helping Hand House, which has been assisting homeless families throughout East Pierce County for the past 25 years, was one of 66 non-profit groups in the Pacific Northwest to receive an Allen Foundation grant. The foundation, started by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his sister, Jo Lynn Allen, is donating $4.6 million this year, much of it to groups that assist low-income individuals and families.
Helping Hand House Executive Director Nola Renz said last week that the grant should help about 125 area families during the next year.
“The money will be used in our homeless prevention programs to assist more families who are at risk of eviction or utility shut off,” Renz said.Receiving a grant from the Allen Foundation is a tough task, Renz explained, because only certain organizations are invited to apply. Helping Hand House applied for its grant last fall after meeting and talking with foundation officials.
Philanthropic efforts have been a part of the Allen Foundation’s mission for 20 years, said Bill Vesneski, the group’s evaluation, planning and research director. Helping Hand House stood out as a worthwhile cause because it’s widely known for excellent service, he said.
“They’ve had a very strong commitment as to measuring and monitoring their impact,” Vesneski said.
The money is especially welcome to Helping Hand House at a time when rising unemployment rates are putting more families at risk of living on the streets. The non-profit agency, which has helped more than 4,600 families in Puyallup, Sumner, South Hill and surrounding areas in the past 25 years, isn’t coming close to meeting demands. Two months ago, the group told Puyallup City Council members it had turned away more than 1,600 families during a six-month span of 2009.
“It has been an enormous challenge to continue to serve more families,” Renz said. “There’s limited resources so we’re always turning families away. That’s the discouraging part.”
The Allen Foundation focuses on a number of opportunities in its gifts, including community arts and music programs, youth education classes and job skill development courses.
The foundation has shifted its priorities to focus on victims of the national recession, Visneski said, and more groups like Helping Hand House are on the slate for grants in 2011.
“The goal is to kind of get the money into emergency relief, to get the money where it’s needed,” Visneski said. “We wanted to make sure we were doing work in Pierce County.”
Helping Hand House prides itself on being a lasting solution to homelessness because families who seek transitional housing opportunities learn to be financially sound and gain employment skills. The organization estimated at least three of four families that complete a transitional housing program don’t become homeless again.
“The exciting thing is that when families leave us they have a permanent solution,” Renz said. “They go into a situation where they have a home and a living-wage job.”
2009 Hunger & Homelessness Report from US Council of Mayors
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) released results of its 2009 Hunger and Homelessness Report. The survey includes results from 27 of America’s major cities that highlight the impact of hunger and homelessness in metropolitan centers in the United States.
(Can’t see the video? Please click here to go to C-Span video)
2009 Volunteer and In-Kind Donation stats…WOW.
$113,616.00 – The total amount of gifts in kind/donations received – everything that comes through our front door. The categories listed below that have a dollar value are reflected in this grand total.
- 115 birthday cakes were donated ($1,150 at $10.00 per cake)
- 1,102 total volunteer hours
- 150 volunteers throughout the year
- 13 group yard projects were completed
- 38 volunteers volunteered on an ongoing basis (birthday cakes, birthday gifts, roberts cleaning, etc.)
- 151 quilts received ($13,090)
- Supply drive donations (toilet paper, paper towels, toys, books, etc) ($4,118)
- 2 cars donated ($2,575)
- Holidays (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Back to School) ($56,839)
- Household furnishings (includes furniture and other household items) ($8,943)
And this total doesn’t even include the use of a duplex, donated every year by the South Hill Rotary, and other donated units across Pierce County.
Isn’t that amazing?? Thank you to each and every one of you that contributed to our families this year – this is $113,616 worth of assistance that went directly to serving some of the neediest families in our community. Kudos! You do it well, Pierce County!
