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During our last twenty years of service to hungry and homeless
people in Minnesota, we at Open Your Heart to the Hungry and
Homeless can be proud of our many accomplishments. Through your
generous donations, we have provided millions of dollars to support
those most in need of food and shelter.
Yet there is still more to do. On any given night in Minnesota,
more than 20,000 people are homeless or precariously housed,
including 3,000 children, according to the MN Housing Fund. And the
"working poor," who sometimes work two to three jobs at minimum wage
and still cannot support their families, represent the
fastest-growing group of hungry and homeless.
So, after twenty years, we still ask: Will you help us meet
Minnesotan's most basic needs?
| Agency
Spotlight: Project Homeless Connect, St.
Paul |
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A grant
of $10,000 from Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless to
Family Housing Fund will help support the second Ramsey
County/St. Paul Project Homeless Connect event, scheduled for
June 19 at the National Guard Armory, 600 Cedar Street. Family
Housing Fund is the fiscal agent for Project Homeless
Connect.
Project Homeless Connect is a one-day, one-stop event
sponsored by Mayors and other community leaders in over 115
cities across the country. At last year's event in St. Paul,
over 900 homeless and precariously housed people came to learn
about and connect with more than 70 housing and service
organizations in our community. More than 250 volunteers
helped at the event.
The goal is to serve individuals directly, on-site, by
providing legal, social and job services, housing information
and referrals, eye and medical care, hair cuts, transportation
and more. Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless is proud
to support this event.
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| Agency
Spotlight: Winona Volunteer Services,
Winona |
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Since
1972, Winona Volunteer Services has operated a food shelf,
clothing shop and home-delivered meals to residents of Winona
County, MN. Today, Winona Volunteer Services runs the largest
food shelf in the area. Low and no-income residents can obtain
a 12 month punch card which allows them to select a certain
number of food items each month.
In March,
Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless awarded Winona
Volunteer Services $10,000 to blacktop and paint stripes in
the parking lot of its newly remodeled food shelf.
To use
the monthly food shelf the household must live in Winona
County and be at or below 200% of the Federal poverty
guidelines. No documentation is necessary to receive emergency
food. The public is invited to shop in the used clothing store
or to donate gently used clothing to us. Prices range from 50
cents to $6.00 and all proceeds support the operation and
programs of Winona Volunteer Services.
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| Did You
Know? |
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Fact
of the Month:
Fifty percent of the households that
benefit from food shelves have at least one child under the
age of 18. The impact of even mild nutritional deprivation can
impede cognitive development and impair a child's capacities
over a lifetime. (Source: Hunger in America 2006, Second
Harvest Heartland)
Quote
of the Month:
Instead of serving homeless people
endlessly, our mission is to end their homelessness.
-
Philip F. Mangano, United States Interagency Council on
Homelessness Executive Director. (Source: www.ich.gov)
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Help Us
Kick-Off Another Twenty Years of Service to the Hungry and
Homeless |
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Please
join us Thursday, October 25th from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
as we look ahead to the next twenty years of helping to
alleviate hunger and homelessness. The fundraiser will be held
at Christo's Union Depot Place, 214 Fourth Street East in
Saint Paul.
Save the
date! |
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