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Newsletter for January 2024

   


UPCOMING EVENTS IN FEBRUARY:

Tuesday February 13 from 6 to 9 PM                                                                                      Murder Mystery Dinner at Maynard’s Kitchen, 400 N. Toole Ave Tucson


What a perfect way to celebrate Valentines Day
and at the same time help provide secure micro-shelters and services for some of Tucson’s houseless residents. The event is planned by Rita Gray and Pam Parry and will feature Dinner on Maynard’s patio.  Actors from a 1920s Hollywood themed production company will mingle with guests, who are encouraged to 'dress fancy.'                                                                                                                                                            

Please encourage family and friends to join you in this fun and worthy event.  Send your friends the link for our homepage where they can click on the Murder Mystery Dinner poster to register.

Tickets are $100 per person, plus a $8 reservation fee.  Seating is limited, so please order your tickets soon.

Our micro-shelter demo will be on site to preview before the start of the event so come early.

 

Call for Volunteers

Please consider joining us in this important work. If you or someone you know might be interested, email us at: volunteers@thehomingproject.org

Shelley Carton and Yolanda Sethi are the volunteer coordination team. They coordinate volunteer coverage for outreach and fundraising events.

 

Volunteers needed for upcoming Events:


February 13 Tuesday :

Murder Mystery Dinner at Maynard’s Kitchen (see prior page)

Volunteer Coordination by Shelley.

Questions?  Please Email Shelley at volunteers@thehomingproject.com


February 24 Saturday from 9 AM to1 PM: 

Peace Fair & Music Festival at Armory Park at South 6th Avenue

We will have a table and need volunteers to disseminate information about our mission.  

Please email Shelley or Yolanda at volunteers@thehomingproject.org if you can join the volunteer staff that day.


March 9 and 10 Tucson Festival of Books:

We have a place to display our Demo-house plus tables thanks to the generosity of Pat DiConcini.  We will need many volunteers to speak with festival attendees, expected to number ~150,000.  More information and sign-up sheets will be available soon.  Festival organizers requested that we display some books about homelessness and related subjects. Please bring books you might own for display at the table and let the Newsletter editor know which books you are bringing. We will compile a list of books about these subjects we can make available for festival attendees. Kris and an artist are working on a coloring book on the subject of homelessness.

 

 

An Emerging Alliance: In response to a THP meeting at Beyond Bread on January 16 with representatives of other organizations who are also working on eliminating homelessness, Susan Cordt contributed the following article. Thank You Susan.


Micro-shelter Alliance/Transitional Housing Collaborative May Be Possible

A group of concerned citizens has banded together to identify options to transition individuals from being unhoused to housed, realizing that there are many initiatives in the community but getting traction and taking next steps is difficult in isolation.  Several representatives from The Homing Project as well as Beau Phillips from “Boxes of Hope” (click here) and Dave Gamrath and Tom Lennan from” Hope Factory” (click here), collectively called the “Transitional Housing Collaborative,” met at Beyond Bread on January 15, 2024 to further earlier conversations.  The Transitional Housing Collaborative recognizes that any solution needs to include governmental and community support while considering the voice of the unhoused as to the efficacy of a solution.  They have worked diligently to accomplish this goal.  The participants shared several updates from meeting with many different constituents in the city of Tucson and Pima County to continue the collaborative dialogue on options and paths to solutions for the unhoused crisis in front of us.  Kris Olson-Garewal, co-founder of “The Homing Project,” a Tucson non-profit, shared that the unhoused population in Tucson has grown exponentially, while other areas in the country have seen a decline in their unhoused populations.  A key reason for this is the escalating housing and rent costs without an associated increase in real wages.  Low-income housing construction has not kept pace with the growing need.  Kris Olson-Garewal said The Homing Project has a target to open its first community at the end of summer of 2024 and feels it has the support needed from the community.  The first community will be built using micro shelters made by Pallet Shelter of Everett, WA, and will have support services provided by Catalytic Health Partners.  The Collaborative is also looking at other options within the community for additional housing solutions and has reached out to “Habitat for Humanity” to explore any options that may be available with them as a next step.  Susan Cordts shared that Chuck Dunn, in collaboration with St. Elizabeth’s Church and the St. Francis shelter, desires to be a partner to provide additional, transitional housing options with supportive services to meet the growing needs in the Amphi district.  Dave Gamrath and Susan Cordts have met with Chuck Dunn separately.  Susan has connected Beau Phillips with Chuck; as a next step and they will all re-convene on February 14, 2024.  While the task at hand is large and the pace may feel at times very slow, a lot has been accomplished.  Together, working in close collaboration, we feel confident we will be able to find a strong path forward to helping our brothers and sisters who are unhoused find their next step to being housed.


Susan L Cordts, CEO, Catalytic Health Partners, Inc.



Report on Progress to erect the 1st Micro-Shelter Village this Summer:

There has been much progress made with permits from the city and acceptance by the surrounding community.  However, the process has not yet been completed.  The Pallet micro-shelters will be delivered in early March and will be temporarily stored at a Habitat for Humanity location until the site is ready.  In the meantime, we still need more funding to have the village ready for occupants to move-in by late summer.


Board Meeting of January 20, 2024:

The Board meeting of 1/20/24 was mainly concerned with organizing for the upcoming events.  New items include:

·  Fernando Cardenas was unanimously voted in as a new Board member.  A semi-retired nurse with many years of experience in mental health, Mr. Cardenas is a resident of Green Valley.

·  Yolanda Sethi gave an update on development of a coloring book that will be given to young children at the Book Festival.  A local artist, Mary Whitehead, is working with Yolanda to develop this.  In addition, the list of recommended books about homelessness and related subjects is progressing.  Volunteer Monika Kriebel found that books on the subject, for both children and adults, are available from our Public Library.

·  It was decided to hold the Board elections via email before the next meeting.  Board members will be nominated and will be voted on in time to announce the new slate at the February Board Meeting, scheduled for Saturday February 17th at 1 PM.

 

Volunteer Meeting of Saturday January 27, 2024, at St Phillips:

Seventeen volunteers attended.  We welcomed back some of our Snow Bird volunteers who are looking forward to staffing exhibits of the Pallet micro-shelter, tabling during events, and help with clean-up of the property in the Keeling Neighborhood as soon as all permits have been granted.

Discussion ensued about drivers and other volunteers needed for coming events.  Mahlon Kriebel will tow the micro-house on its trailer to events until the end of April, at which time we need another volunteer driver.  Mahlon also volunteered for leveling the Keeling site with the help of some heavy equipment he is looking to lease from a contractor for a day.  Fernando Cardenas also offered to help with this task.  Linda Wood volunteered to scout the site for native protected plants before levelling begins.  Monika Kriebel will help newsletter editor Joe Vaughan over the next three months.  Monika will also help our volunteer coordinators as needed.  Mark Leinhos plans to make the web site more interactive.  Jennifer Leinhos, our book keeper, shared that it is very important to have well developed spread sheets to earn credibility and support from the city and grant providers.

 

Chula Vista “Village of Otay” Bridge Shelters in San Diego

San Diego, CA, constructed a 65-unit Pallet Shelter village, which opened in May of 2023, in an area called “Village of Otay”.  The village cost $6.6 million and was paid for by federal, state and city grant money besides private donations.  Please see links here and here for more detailed information.

The Homing Project is working to create a similar village in Tucson, however, we still need “more support to begin addressing housing our unhoused population.  We need more large grants as well private donations.  Private donations both small and large can help show broad public support for an organization like THP; this can increase the credibility of THP in the view of foundations capable of making larger grants.  So, please donate to THP and spread the word about our worthwhile project.

Thank You Volunteers and Donors for your support of our mission to end homelessness in Tucson!  We cannot do it without you!

 

MEETINGS:

General/Volunteer Meetings are held the last Saturday of the month at 10AM at St. Phillips in the Hills in the Children’s Chapel Room.

Join us to plan new & discuss past events.

Board Meetings are held at 1PM on the next to the last Saturday of the month, at Kris Olson’s home. Project volunteers are welcome to attend.



The Homing Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded by Dr. Kris Olson and Raj Garewal. For more information visit the home page.


The Homing Project Newsletter

Monika Kriebel and Joe Vaughan edited this month’s newsletter. 

Email suggestions of items for inclusion to: newsletter@thehomingproject.org

Our email address is: newsletter@thehomingproject.org

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