PLEASE HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THIS
Friends
As I mentioned yesterday the city of Memphis is gearing up for the 2011 point in time count of people experiencing homelessness in Shelby County. This annual count is both a requirement for receiving more than $5 million a year to local non-profits in homeless funding from HUD and also a way to establish a benchmark for measuring our community's progress to end homelessness. Last year MSPJC volunteers aided the city by putting out a call to the community to volunteer to help with the count and thanks to your efforts that count was very successful in not only obtaining accurate numbers but in also gaining data about the needs of our brothers and sisters living on the streets of Memphis.
The unsheltered count will take place on Wednesday, January 26th from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. With a volunteer trainings on either January 19 (11:30 to 1:30) or January 21 from 3 to 5 at MIFA’s Les Passes center @ 715 St. Paul Avenue, the official Headquarters for unsheltered count. You need only attend one of the trainings.
Like last year the count will focus on where people slept on the night of January 25th.
Volunteers will work in teams of three and that one volunteer from each team will be asked to provide their own transportation for their shift.
If you cannot volunteer but still want to help, the city will need donated goods to be distributed to the unsheltered population on the day of the count (hats, gloves, socks, and snack foods). Donated items will be accepted at our offices at 1000 South Cooper inside First Congo Church.
This year the city NEEDS you to help with the point in time count to not only secure continued funding for our homeless services, but to also help guide future efforts within the Mayors'TEN YEAR PLAN TO END HOMELESSNESS. Mid-South Peace and Justice Center staff including myself worked as members of the policy and planning committee for that plan and are committed to seeing these badly needed reforms and innovations come to pass and having a successful point in time count is part of that process. So please forward this to your lists, your churches and neighborhood groups...we need the entire community to lend a hand here.
Anyone interested in volunteering please call or email me at anytime at Brad@midsouthpeace.org
...and let me know what hours are you available for during the count anytime you can give makes a difference.
DEMAND CHANGE
Brad Watkins
Organizing Coordinator
Mid-South Peace and Justice Center
901-725-4990-office
901-495-0818-cell
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