you can help end homelessness

YOU CAN HELP END
HOMELESSNESS
There are so many ways you can
help people change their lives -just by giving a little time.
WHO WE ALL ARE
Lift Up Your Voice is a program of the Unitarian
Universalist Church of Ventura. Contact Interim
Director, Sue Brinkmeyer
[email protected] or 818-281-6249
Please share your name, affiliation, and one reason
you are here today. Please be sure to give us your
contact information and key ways you might see
yourself helping on the handout provided.
WHO IS HOMELESS
On January 29, 2015, we counted in Ventura
334 people who were homeless
239 were living on the streets.
• 23 children,
• 24 veterans,
• 76 women,
• 10 youth between the ages of 18 and 24, and
• 24 people over the age of 62.
• 60% suffered from some sort of mental illness or serious
disability that made it virtually impossible for them to
work or even take steps to help themselves.
• 80% had lived in Ventura 40 years or more
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
LIFT UP YOUR VOICE
Be on call to show up at City Hall or the Planning Commission when there
is a hearing on affordable housing, a shelter, a services or other issues that
have the potential to make the path out of homelessness a little bit easier.
Advocate for what is needed to end homelessness:
• Housing that is affordable for those with extremely low incomes
• Permanent housing with supportive services as needed
• A Year-Round 24/7 center where those who are homeless can find
shelter at night and work on getting out of homelessness during the
day.
Contact Sue Brinkmeyer at [email protected] or 818-281-6249
HELP AT ONE STOPS
Help people access services of all kinds:
• Medical and Behavioral Health assessments & clinical services;
• CalFresh (food stamps) application assistance;
• Veteran’s Services;
• Covered California (health insurance) and MediCal applications;
• Case management;
• Job & housing assistance,
• Disability applications.
Tuesdays, 9 a.m.-1p.m., Ventura Public Health Auditorium, 3147
Loma Vista Rd., Ventura; and/or
Wednesdays 8:30-11:30 a.m., Community Action of Ventura County,
621 Richmond Ave., Oxnard
Contact Dorothy Fasthorse: [email protected] or 805-653-6775.
ASSIST SAFE SLEEP
Make it possible for people to sleep in their cars or RV’s while
they are working with case managers to get back into stable
housing. Our church lot is one of two places in the City where
sleeping in a vehicle overnight is legal. Spot check the lot
sometime between 7 pm and 7 am once a week or once a month
and report on what you find. Notify those in the lot without
being in the Safe Sleep program that they must enroll to sleep in
the lot.
Contact Harold Cartlidge at [email protected] or
805-653-6775.
HELP CIRCLES OF LOVE
Be on call to help someone who is working his or her way out of homelessness
do those things that are so hard for them to do without a car, money for fuel, or
middle-class know-how. When it fits your schedule,
• drive someone who is going through the steps necessary to move back into
housing. get to an appointment at the DMV, social security/disability office, a
doctor, or a rental office.
• help someone fill out applications or get to an interview.
It sometimes takes a circle of friends to help someone navigate all the hurdles to
getting back into stable housing, and case managers are often overworked and
many times simply don’t have time to help. That is when we call on the bigger
circle: an email will go out describing a need and giving a time frame. Respond
when you can and when it feels right.
Contact Kathy Powell at [email protected] or 805-910-8860.
DO PARK OUTREACH
On the occasional Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., join with a small group
of caring people who walk through the parks and reach out to
those who spend their days in our city parks because they have
nowhere else to go. Offer a kind word, a brief visit, and a smile
and see if there is any way we can be of help. Sometimes there
is. And sometimes that means a call goes out to those helping
with Circle of Love.
Contact Kathy Powell at [email protected] or
805-910-8860.
BOOK PHOTO PROJECTS
Identify offices or businesses that want to help call attention to
the plight of those who are homeless and alert people to ways
they can help. You can also help transport the project when it is
time for it to be moved, usually just a few times a year.
Contact Kent Brinkmeyer at [email protected] or
818-281-6245.
HELP FAMILY TO FAMILY
Serve a hot lunch to some 150 people who are experiencing
homelessness on the first Monday of the month at 11:30 a.m.
Some come at 9 to wash tables, wrap silverware, count out
plates, cut bread and cake, and prepare salad, juice, and coffee.
Some stay until 1 p.m. to help clean up.
Even if a hot meal does not help anyone get out of homelessness,
it sustains them while they do the necessary work.
Contact Christine Rutter at [email protected] or
805-984-1137.
SUPPORT RIVER HAVEN
On the occasional Monday, prepare one dish or be the driver
who picks up the meal and delivers it to the residents of River
Haven, a transitional living community run by the Turning Point
Foundation.
Dishes are picked up at the church at 3 p.m. one Monday a
month and delivered to River Haven in time for them to be
enjoyed during the residents’ community meeting.
Contact Harold Cartlidge at 805-653-6775.
PREVENT HOMELESSNESS
The cheapest and kindest way to end homeless is to prevent it.
Half of those who are homeless are new to it each year. Donate to
the Ventura Homeless Prevention Fund at
venturahomelessprevention.org or mail a check to VHPF at 5654
Ralston, Ventura, CA 93003.
At an average cost of just $550 per family, the Fund has kept 362
households (nearly 1,000 people, 40% of them children) from
losing their homes. Each year we keep over 50 families from
falling into homelessness, and with greater resources, we could and
would help more.
Contact Sue Brinkmeyer at [email protected] or
818-281-6249.
PROVIDE A ROOM
If you have a room to share or know someone who does, you can
help get someone housed. Tell everyone you know about Home
Share. Contact Ventura County Home Share (805) 477-7324
If you are a landlord, sign up to accept Section 8 and Veterans’
Vouchers. Contact Ventura Housing Authority 866-466-7328
http://www.hacityventura.org/Section8/section8.html
For more information on VASH vouchers, contact Karol
Schulkin, County of Ventura Human Services Agency at
805-385-1888 or [email protected].
SUPPORT LOCAL ORGS.
Help organizations working to get people back into
housing:
• Project Understanding
• Ventura County Salvation Army
• The Turning Point Foundation
• Society of St. Vincent de Paul
• Ventura Homeless Prevention
• The Ventura County Rescue Mission, to name a few.
Project is always looking for volunteers, and all of these
organizations need more funding. All of them have websites
and ways for you to donate online.
LEARN MORE
Take a Hungry Person to Lunch, Wednesday, Nov. 19. Meet
at UU Church at 10:30 a.m.
Partners for Change - Together We Can End Homelessness,
Thursday, October 8, 6:30-8:30 pm, Poinsettia Pavilion.
Ventura Social Services Task Force, 1st Wednesday of every
month, 303 N. Ventura Ave, #E (vsstf.org)