Virtual Hat for Homeless Emergency Hotel Needs

Hi Friends! We don't often make request such as this, because we know how generous you so often are even before we ask! This week has has been so hard though, we are passing the virtual hat around to collect prayers and monetary donations for our unsheltered friends who need emergency hotel shelter. Trying to help find shelter for those who find themselves homeless is always hard, BUT it is extra hard if you are a female or if you have a child. If you are not a domestic violence victim, our community does not currently have a homeless shelter available for women and children. This week we have been slammed with request for need for an emergency shelter beyond a tent which equates to us having to get a hotel. We have worked out a reduced rate at a local hotel for half the normal cost, but $50 a night quickly adds up! Here are just three of the most desperate situations we are dealing with right now.

-Family with 2 year old baby- A family with an adorable 2 year old appeared at our door yesterday evening. The fellow in the family has a disability, yet is working for a temporary staffing agency, but is between checks and used up what they had on hotel fees. They came to us and said they have an appointment with the Homeless Coalition on the 28th, but until then there is no other assistance they could receive from them and they were out of money and not sure what to do. We had one of our Workers go over to the Coalition to confirm this was in fact the case, and sadly it is. We could not leave a family with a child on the streets for a week, much less one night! So we have put them in a hotel. Even if the Homeless Coalition can help them immediately on the 28th that is $400 in hotel fees.

-A. is a lovely woman experiencing homelessness due to some traumatic events, who has become a dear friend to the HoH and the MoJo. Any other week you would find her here tending the garden, creating bouquets of flowers, and making beautiful handmade paper. She has sadly tested positive for Covid-19. There is no way we would wish anyone to have to battle Covid from a tent without a restroom and a comfortable place to rest! She needs to be in the hotel for a minimum of 10 days.

-Walking on a sidewalk here in Wheeling, a young women who is among those with no shelter to go to, fell in a deep hole on one of the sidewalks and broke her foot. She is very bruised up from the fall and in a wheelchair. She typically resides in a tent, but that is both challenging and painful right now.

If you have it in your ability to help financially, no amount is too small and even little prayers can lead to big things! Thank you for any way your heart leads you to love on our friends who need a extra bit of it right now!

Love,

Kate and the HoH