Support A Woman In Need During Quarantine

Before COVID-19, I was completing my MSW field placement working with 70 incredible women (our Alumni) who were just getting back on their feet after moving out of Deborah's Place, Chicago's largest supportive housing organization for women, and into their own homes. The "Alumni Services" program continues the services they received while living in the program, such as case management and emotional support, through the transition and however long they need after, until they feel they are secure in this exciting, yet challenging, new chapter on their own. They are all 45-70 years old, have no family, were previously homeless for years or even decades, have underlying conditions and/or a mental/physical disability, and many are domestic violence survivors.  They have been looking forward to this period of life out of homelessness for so long and had big plans - only to now have a once in a century pandemic hit that specifically targets the state of health they are in/age range, have no savings yet and have no family to help them get things they need or even just call them to make sure they're okay. Some have been taking public transit despite the health risk as it's the only option, and dont even have gloves, sanitizer etc. to at least reduce their risk of infection.

In the best of times, we have an extremely small budget that only allows us to provide a little bit of financial help for emergencies 1 time every 12 months per person, so no where near enough to help everyone during this unprecedented event. This emergency fund will go towards making sure every woman has what they need to stay safe, healthy and/or financially secure. Any amount helps! Even just a $5 donation still buys 3 boxes of pasta... $3 can buy hand sanitizer/ soap... No amount is insignificant, truly.

The only way to get rid of this virus is to make sure everyone has what they need to stay home & stay healthy -  so please consider donating anything you can & every dollar is appreciated :)