Homelessness makes you sick.
Being very sick can make you homeless.
If you're sick, homelessness makes you sicker.
Last winter, Ray Fitzberger got frostbite on his legs and feet. Doctors had to remove three toes on his left foot. Not long after the surgery, Ray was released from the hospital.
Every day, people we know and love undergo surgery to address life-threatening conditions. If they have no place to go, they get discharged back to the streets.
Each day, Carlton trekked downtown for heroin. Drugs had landed him 33 years in prison, cost him the support of his family and prevented him from keeping a job.
Philisha fought for Gabby and Travis every day.
As the 90-day limit at a local shelter wound down, she agonized over keeping her family together and keeping a roof over her children’s heads. The possibility that she couldn’t do both was excruciating.
Tierra Bolling connects with our clients in a way that few can.
As a child, Tierra watched both of her parents struggle with substance use, and she knows first-hand what it’s like to experience homelessness. Tierra’s early years taught her that hard times don’t define your future. Change is possible.
"This doesn’t have to be what your life is like,” she reminds her clients.
Men experiencing homelessness who are 45 to 64 years old are 40 to 50% more likely to die of heart disease than people who are housed.
Last summer, when Danielle tried to enroll her three children into school, it was a little like preparing for a long voyage: the documentation and registration forms, countless trips to the store for school supplies and, of course, vaccinations and physicals.
Board member Eric Wendler shares one simple way to care for neighbors experiencing homelessness.
Q: Help doesn’t always come in the form of money. Sometimes it’s food, water or simply a smile. During these hot summer months, how do you help?
Passion and authenticity.
Those are the core values our staff shared with four social work students from Kochi, India last week.
Former Health Care for the Homeless client Kiarra Boulware couldn’t seem to overcome the drugs and violence overwhelming Sandtown, where she grew up and where nearly half of all families live in poverty.