Helping the Homeless - Ms. Beverly!

After two days of watching a homeless person in my neighborhood move from bus stop to bench and back I finally stopped and introduced myself to whom I now know is Beverly. 

Beverly is 67 years old, no family and only child was killed at the age of 30 by his grandmother. Beverly is from Florida and owned a small home there until 2004 when a Hurricane took it away with all of her possessions. A natural disaster is what pushed Beverly into homelessness (no insurance) and inevitably left her in the situation she finds herself in today. 

Beverly currently either sleeps on a bench, in a box or on church property at Brentwood Bible Church. The staff of Brentwood Bible Church are in the process of helping her with a new ID card (that was recently stolen) and enrollment for Social Security benefits. I have been in contact with several people that have guided me in the process of getting Beverly to explore Foundation Communities and other resources Austin has to offer. Through the process this past week of helping Beverly I quickly came to the realization that there is little to NO emergency housing assistance in our town. In addition, options for homeless Seniors is also non-existent. 

At this time the biggest need Beverly has are the funds to get into temporary housing  (Extended Stay Hotel) and some additional funds for food, bus fare and the necessities for day to day living. She does not have the ability to store/save items like clothing due to lack of space. I will not turn over any funds to her directly as a result of this GoFundMe campaign, however I will use the funds to help pay for housing and the items that she needs to stay warm and fed. Secondly, helping her with resources for job placement etc. will come later. THANK YOU for anything you can do and Beverly appreciates anything!