With the official start of summer here, we'd like to once again share some updates about the great things that are happening here at KCHC—besides the lilacs popping around campus, though they do smell gorgeous!
These extraordinary times continue to call for extraordinary measures, and we are meeting the multitude of challenges with an 'all-hands-on-deck' approach.
As we continue to support the meeting of urgent needs, we are concurrently working with clients to address long-term goals for housing with a couple families moving into permanent housing by the end of the month.
Along with those staying at our Hospitality House Family Shelter, we are providing temporary safe shelter (motel rooms, campgrounds) to more than 100 individuals who have no other natural supports available at this time. We are supporting an additional 72 households (kids and their families) connected through The Landing Place, our comprehensive youth program. As before, virtual social work is ongoing and being delivered in ways that keep people safe, engaged, and moving forward.
Now more than ever, these services are especially critical. Keeping families and community safe is a matter of public health, and we are firmly focused on our mission of 'doing the right thing' for human beings who need us.
At Knox County Homeless Coalition (KCHC), we are deeply committed to the belief that ALL individuals should have an equal chance for happiness, prosperity, and success.
KCHC was formed as a grassroots, community initiative to re-imagine the delivery of homeless services. In just six years, we have evolved to employ a multi-pronged, two-generation approach that supports individuals, whole families, and youth with comprehensive, wraparound services that are client-centered, strengths-based and rooted in relational compassion.
I hope you'll take a moment to read more about our challenges, our successes and, most of all, our brave and resilient clients and what we have achieved in our 2019 Community Impact Report which can be found here.
In these tumultuous times, I invite you to join us in our firm commitment to our hopeful vision of a supportive community in which ALL families and individuals have the opportunity for housing and a sustainable productive life, regardless of external circumstances, and to our core values of hope and resiliency, collaboration, dignity and respect, trust, compassion and caring, which engender self-worth, the basis for future growth, and positive change.
With gratitude,
Steph Primm
Executive Director
The KCHC Difference:
FIXING BROKEN SYSTEMS
Imagine yourself young and in love. Imagine beginning a family and dreaming of the future. Then imagine one day going from being a traditional family, with a cute little house with a picket fence, to finding yourself between a rock and a hard place.
We recently had a call from a dad who was not just stuck, but deeply wedged between this rock and hard place, exasperated by a system seemingly determined to see him fail. His story starts, as many of our client's stories do, with one small event snowballing into something that quickly became seemingly insurmountable.
"A 2019 study by the Federal Reserve estimated that 40% of Americans could not weather an unexpected bill of $400."
After he and his partner separated, he worked out a child support arrangement because of the love and responsibility he felt toward his kids. His troubles began when he got behind in those payments. Because of this he lost his license. At first glance that may seem like an appropriate punishment for parents who don't keep up with their payments. Without his license however, he was no longer able to keep or gain employment, falling only further behind. With no license, and now without a job, he was also unable to keep paying rent.
But he didn't give up. Like most of the people we work with, he is resourceful and resilient. He loves his children and he is a dedicated father. He continued to apply for jobs, hop from one couch to another each night, and he continued to arrange for transportation with friends and colleagues wherever possible. Giving up was never an option. The tipping point came when it finally looked as if he'd landed a job that would pay enough to address his child support payments, and also have enough to survive on. Then they asked him for his permanent address.
He didn't have any way of proving he had a place to stay for anything more than one night at a time.
This is an all-too-common example of the vicious cycle that many of our clients become stuck in and the domino effect of circumstances that many of our clients fall victim to. At KCHC, we believe in creating systems that work for, rather than against, hard working people who often only need a break in order to move forward.
These scenarios are repeated again and again as the complexities of real life situations crash against what is often a one-size-fits-all system that can leave people feeling all alone and up against what sometimes seem like insurmountable odds.
Caught in this circle and not knowing where to turn, he reached out to KCHC and our team of outside-the-box thinkers, who have the latitude and the means to solve real problems, with real solutions, in real time.
At KCHC, we are firmly committed to our vision of a supportive community within which all families and individuals have the opportunity for housing and a sustainable productive life, regardless of external circumstances and we are committed to 'doing the right thing' for each and every one of our clients.
We were able to place him in temporary shelter and to provide proof that he had been there long enough to finally be able to get his first couple of pay checks. We are now working with him to address his back payments, to help him get his driving privileges back, and to assist him in securing permanent housing. And, most importantly, we are working to help him find the space, the ability, and the circumstances to begin to envision a brighter future for himself and for his children.
We'd like to welcome Jay Braatz to the board of KCHC. Jay is excited to bring visibility to the drive to tackle homelessness and related social issues head on. Jay most recently worked at DePaul University in Chicago where, she was Vice President for Planning and the president’s chief of staff, before retiring to Maine in the fall of 2019. She also has served in a number of capacities with the Spencer Foundation, the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, and the Harvard Alumni Association. She is currently on the Advisory Board of the Institute of Global Homelessness. Read more about why she's so passionate about this work here.
JOIN US VIRTUALLY . . . OR LITERALLY (WE'RE HIRING!)
We're Hiring!
We are hiring for multiple positions! We seek caring, dedicated, and flexible team members to become a part of our mission-driven organization. Help us create, implement, and improve programs to support the most vulnerable members of our community. Benefits include employer-supported health insurance plans, optional dental and vision plans, paid time off, and paid holidays, including your very own birthday as a paid day off (because you deserve it!). For more information visit: https://www.homehelphope.org/careers
Cook With Us
We know we've delivered a lot of canned peaches as part of our out bound food deliveries . . . (and maybe some of you are eating down your pantry too). If you are interested in a creative and delicious way to use extra canned peaches, follow along with our Youth Shelter Solutions Coordinator, Ben Cooke as he helps you develop the "Super Skill" of making Peach Cobbler.
Mondays, 3-5 p.m. (middle and high school age students)
TLP Monday Makers on Zoom
Wednesdays 3-4 p.m. (for TLP siblings under age 12)
Art Zoom
Watch Now
Join The Landing Place Teen Center Coordinator, Kim Bernard, as she teaches us how to learn the "Super Skill" of mowing the lawn!
Zoom In
2:30-5:30 pm
...and stay tuned
for some live
and in-person
socially-distanced
outdoor activities
coming in July!
Just because the drop-in center is closed, doesn't mean kids can't "drop in". Every Tuesday and Thursday those who would have joined us on Park Street can hang out, play games & laugh on Zoom. Hosted by Mike, with Joseph, Ben, & Kim as guests. Message us for the link.
Tuesday, 3-5 p.m.,
Hosted by Mike, with Joseph, Ben & Kim as guests. We hang out, play games & laugh. Message for link
Thursday, 3-5 p.m.,
Hosted by Mike, with Joseph, Ben & Kim as guests. We hang out, play games & laugh. Message for link
NOW THROUGH INDEPENDENCE DAY
Help us meet our goal by using the link below to make an online recurring donation!
HIGHLIGHTING OUR COLLABORATION & PARTNERSHIPS IN THE COMMUNITY
7,000 POUNDS OF FOOD IN LESS THAN 3 MINUTES!
Picking up the third expanded delivery to manage food insecurity during COVID-19. Watch our volunteers work to help move a delivery from the Good Shepherd regional distribution site at Knowlton Moving and Storage to our supply center. We are currently working with about 200 households through Knox County Homeless Coalition and another 70-75 families through our youth program The Landing Place.
Making Masks Cool - Kim Bernard, Drop-in Center Coordinator created custom face coverings for the entire youth team and all the kids on the drop-off route! Incognito above are program director, Joseph Hufnagel and Shelter Solutions Coordinator, Ben Cooke.
Lasting Impressions:
A generous donor brought by more than a dozen seedling starter kits to allow our clients to get outside, become home gardeners, and produce some tasty and healthy food for the summer. As we all navigate these exceptional times together, we realize more and more each day how much the small and simple things can matter.
Once again, we hope this newsletter finds you safe and well. Thank you for taking the time to read about what we are doing. As always, we are deeply grateful for your support and your belief in our work and mission, especially now as we are faced with so much additional need. On behalf of our clients, staff, board, and volunteers, we wish you a happy and safe summer!
If you or someone you know and love needs assistance and is experiencing homelessness—please reach out to KCHC at 207-593-8151 or email us atinfo@homehelphope.org.
