3/1/2019 Status Update

Hello everyone and how are you? I am doing fantastic and my thoughts and prayers go out to those living on the streets. Last night I finished researching all the information that I needed for the new program of Hope Station USA call Pathway to Self-Sufficiency. it will be a program to help them transition from living on the streets to becoming a working tax paying member of society.

We put a lot of thought into this program and do believe it to be a huge benefit to the community and society as well as to the homeless individuals who join the program. It gives them that hand up that they need to get back on their feet again.

I will place part of the grant proposal and the estimated costs here in this post so that everyone could see what the program entails and what the costs would be to get her up and running. We would use homeless individuals and volunteers to help build the little community and it would provide a few jobs per location that are constructed.

We are excited about it and the benefits outweigh anything else that comes close to helping them. I can't have my heartstrings pulled every time I see someone out there panhandling to survive when most are able to work and that is another benefit of the program and that is to get them working again.

So here is the information about the program and maybe everyone could chip in and help us out.

Pathway to Self-Sufficiency is a program created by Hope Station USA, Inc. that would provide a stable and safe place for a homeless individual to live and with the programs help, they will learn the steps to becoming a working and tax-paying member of society again.

The program consists of steps that will need to be taken in order to graduate the program and become self-sufficient. Each individual will be assessed, and the program will be tailored to the individual's needs and goals. Individuals that graduate from the program will also be considered milestones and accomplishments for Hope Station USA, Inc.

The program for each individual will be six months long, and upon their time of graduation, they will be assisted in moving into their new apartment or home. We will provide transportation to and from their place of employment and back to their assigned housing unit at Pathways to Self-Sufficiency. Each individual will be required to sign a contract stating that they will abide by the rules of the program and that they will assist in keeping everyone within the walls of the program safe and from harm.

There will be ten steps to the program with the first one being the assessment and then being assigned a housing unit. There will be twenty housing units within each Pathway to Self-Sufficiency location created. The goal of this program is to assist as many homeless individuals as we can and get them back into society.

The next step will be to sit down with them and set some goals both short term and long term. We want them to understand that they do have choices on how they live and how they want to be perceived by society. We will also assist them in building a resume if they have work experience prior to becoming homeless.

Through our computer lab, they will have access to job seeking resources and the occasional free time with the internet but under supervision and website blocking for inappropriate material. Also, there will be our version of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous which will be led by myself or a guest speaker with ten or more years under their belt. I have been clean and sober for ten years now and I cherish every minute of it.

There will be community nights where everyone will get together and hang out and get to know each other and barbeque weekends. Hope Station USA will provide them with meals and hygiene products as well as any clothing that they might need for job seeking. The purpose of these meetings will be to let everyone know that they are not alone and to give them hope.

Another step will be to teach them life lessons as we call them. Each individual will be taught the basics of living a normal life, such as cooking, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, and sewing. We want to equip them to be able to take care of themselves once out on their own.

Once they have acquired employment, then we will take them to open a bank account and teach them to budget and save money. They will have to be taught how to pay bills and live a normal life. After thirty days of working, we will require them to pay one- hundred and fifty dollars a month as a rental payment for their housing unit. This will be used as an income to keep the program going.

The next step will be to assist them in securing a source of transportation. Whether they want a vehicle or a bicycle, it will be to help them get around. Soon after they have acquired their own source of transportation, it will be time to begin saving for their very own apartment.

At their six-month period, we will assist them in moving to their own apartment and we will have a graduation party for them before they are checked out of their housing unit.

Each housing unit will be equipped with a twin bed, a micro-fridge, a small microwave, a refurbished television, a dresser, and a desk with chair and a small lamp. There will be curfews in place for their own safety and someone will be on guard overnight to maintain the safety of the community.

With this program, it will create four to five jobs per location that will be laborers, overnight people, and a housekeeper to keep the bathroom and showers clean on top of doing the laundry that is needed. This person will also check people in and out during the day in the administration building.

Costs Associated with Program-                $135,000

Property Purchase-         $26,000- 30,000              

Utilities-               $6,000- 10,000 Estimated per year

Salaries -              $80,000/ year    4 Employees      $20,000/year/each

Passenger Van- $15,000

Build Cost for Community-          $107,666.56

Fence-  $9,182.95

Administrative Building w/ Computer Lab-            $6,667.54

Dining Hall Plus Kitchen-               $5,282.87

Laundry Room- $2,344.89

Shower/ Bathroom Building-       $4,636.16

Amenities/ Appliances- $20,292.35

Tiny House-        $2,212.99 each @ 20 = $44,259.80

Miscellaneous hardware/ Tools-                $10,000

Septic-  $5,000

Total Cost of Program-  $242,666.56

2/17/2019 Status Update

Good morning everyone. I am pleased to inform you that we received our registration for the state of Georgia. It is a good day! Now, things can begin on a good note with fundraising and servicing the homeless here. We have lots of plans and I have been working on the fundamentals of a new program and getting the information ready to seek funding for the new program.

We, my husband and I, will be putting some of our own money away towards this program to show our support and everything will be laid out in black and white for everyone to see. I can also start setting up tables here in Georgia too to bring in some funding.

I am excited about this year because it will be a new beginning for Hope Station USA. Some other good news is that I have an agreement with my husband that if I do my treadmill every day and build up my time and endurance, get my weight down to two-hundred and thirty or less, and get medical clearance from my doctor, I will be doing a state walk for charity here in Georgia and then next year will be Florida and Tennessee.

I want to bring about the awareness that we have a serious issue with homelessness that needs our attention. These are human beings having a hard time in life and they need our compassion, respect, and help. Get to know these people in your local community. Buy them a cup of coffee or a burger and sit and talk with them.

I will have a book coming out in November on homelessness and with my walks, I will be sitting along the way with some of them getting their story and picture putting it inside the book so you can get to know these people for who they are and not what drugs or alcohol they are using.

Well, that is all the excitement for now, but I will have more in a few days when I come back and do another status update. Remember these are people too so do something nice for one today. My thoughts and prayers are out there with them. Take care and everyone be blessed.

Putting A Face On Homelessness

                                      

1-877-706-1684  

        I know why the face of homelessness is alcohol and drugs. They are the ones seen everyday. The addiction itself compels them into the open. Awareness is needed beyond that. We see the faces people have come to know, and we help them. We see also the faces people don't know. Families with children, living in the woods because they've lost their jobs. (The economy has shelters at maximum capacity.) A young man with a college degree and a part time job that doesn't pay enough to maintain him in self sufficiency. (One job opening today draws 100's if not 1000's of applicants at once.) Daily, people find their way to us. I don't even know how to describe what it feels like to find a person standing in our doorway, broken. In tears.

The spectrum is broad. We see them, the people who were once our neighbors, who are now hiding in the shadows of homelessness, too proud, too embarrassed, to humiliated or just too scared to come forward and ask for help. Just as we are, these people are part of the fabric of the community and the fabric is torn.
To think of those children without a bed to sleep in at night, without a good meal. The parents heartbreak to look in thier children's eyes and not be able to give them what they need, much less what they dream for them to have. To think of that young man, who dedicated himself to get an education only to find himself at a dead end. Can he even get a shower and a clean shirt for the job interview that will lift him out of homelessness? Those are just two of countless individual hardships that have led to homelessness.

                                                              Building Bridges

                                          Together, we can tuck those children in at night.
                                          Together, we can give that young man resources.
              Together we can build the bridge to span the gap between homelessness and home.

• Example: One of our clients is currently living one day at a time clean and sober.
• Example: A client who is homeless and has a four year degree is now working a part time job through one of our neighborhood businesses.
• Example: A 63 year old man who was sleeping behind a mall on the concrete now has an income and is living indoors.
• Example: Through using our resources and assistance, one client has moved to Alaska and is working and has his own office overlooking the bay.
  
  
  
   We call Brandi our first success story. She founded Hope Station USA in 2009, but Hope Station USA 'found' her many years prior, borne of her desire to help others in need, even as she herself was in need. From the age of 15 Brandi was homeless, a child living in the streets. She fell into the traps of that life early on and for most of her adult life it was the only way she knew, survival. Living homeless, she met many other homeless people, heard their stories, learned the ‘why’s’ and ‘how’s’ of it all. She was always ready to help them. But how? What little she could do was certainly never enough in her mind. Constantly faced with what she, and many in that life, perceived as ‘no way out’, she decided that she would find a way, a better, more solid way. Hope Station USA was conceived. How did Brandi get herself out of the streets to where she is today? She woke up one day and made a better choice, and then another, and then another. She got out of the streets. She went to college. She began researching what steps to take to start an outreach program for the homeless, and then she went into action. Hope Station USA was born.The most lasting lesson she had learned from being homeless was that nearly everyone she met out there did not want a hand out, they wanted a hand up. She applied that to her program. Hope Station USA would always provide the basic needs, but also would provide resources that would lead out of homelessness.
  Today, Brandi continues to research ways to improve and expand Hope Station USA. She has left homelessness and all of its traps far behind and stands at the doorway for many others to find a way to do the same, a doorway she built with her own two hands and a very big heart.