JANUARY 2022 NEWSLETTER

January 2022 Homeless Action Sonoma Newsletter

WHAT’S NEW

1.  We received a $400K grant from Sonoma County.   The county requires HMIS reporting.  If you know how to do HMIS reporting and  would be willing to help with the reporting to the County please contact me.

2. The Cultural Studies are complete and permit applications filed, waiting for the county to review and give us accounting for permits.  Contractor is ready to start work as soon as we have permits.

3.  Quickhaven houses have been purchased, waiting for the site to be readied before assembling houses.  We also have a garage full of furniture to go into the house when they are assembled.

4.  Most of our clients are in hotel rooms thanks to the County, a real blessing with this cold and wet weather.

5.  Thanks to Dr. Groff we have two more clients with smiles restored.  It is a wonderful ego booster to have teeth again!

6.  We now have a relationship with the Redwood Food Bank, which allows us to shop there for our Sunday dinners.  This is saving us considerable money as the cost of dinner from the grocery store was coming to about $200/week.

7. We have reached an agreement with SAVS, another non profit that works with housing the homeless to have them help us with the wrap around services as well as mentoring us throughout this whole process.  Thank you Marion, Gergory, and Adrienne!!

Other Items
·         I had a wonderful talk with the Human Rights Commission of Sonoma County.  I am touched by the Proclamation that I received from them.  Wonderful to see young people involved in this group! Thank you Howard Sapper for your kind words.
·         I met with Nancy King of Pets Lifeline and talked about how we can work together to get the pets in the homeless community the care they need.
·         For all the turkey cookers, thank you.  It was a beautiful Christmas dinner.  We served 41 people, secret Santa Constance Grazzill make wishes to Santa come true, and the Democrats Club supplied the necessary socks and underwear that always rounded out my Christmas Presents growing up!!  5 turkeys were cooked to perfection and delivered so our crew only had to make all the sides. Thanks to Jill and Cowboy Kamahele we had lovely appetizers and desserts.  It was truly a community dinner with housed and homeless dining side by side!!
·         Met with the interfaith group and discussed homelessness and how as educators they can help us spread the word.  Thank you Rabbi Steve!

WHAT’S NEEDED


Outreach: We need volunteers to do outreach (deliver brochures).  Madeline Whittiker has been working tirelessly trekking them everywhere and she could use some help

Sunday Dinners: We can always use help in this area.  Chefs and servers are always welcomed.  I want to thank our guest chefs Beth Bierman, Pat Coleman and Rick Suerth, great chili and wonderful jambalaya.  They have signed on for one Sunday a month but that means we have at least 3 other Sundays to cover.

Trailer: Still need a trailer for the live in site manager.  Loan, rent, or buy????

Grant Writer: Need another grant writer.  Doug Fryday is working tirelessly on the daunting Homekey Grant application and does not have time to work on any other grants.

Silverware: We don’t like wasteful plastic.  Since our numbers on Sunday are increasing we need more silverware to serve them.

Auto Mechanic: Chance (one of our HAS clients) still needs someone to help him fix up his old truck.  Chance is a great kid and really wants to get his truck running (and I would like it out of my yard!)

MONEY: Projects like this always need money.  Although we had a successful fundraiser last month, we are about $200K short of what we need for the next few months. We had unexpected fees for permitting, appraisal, engineering, and now unforeseen salaries.  In order to utilize the Homekey Grant process we need to get the plans and preliminary permits for the transitional facility in the pipeline now which is expensive.

Open Positions 
We have 4 positions to fill:
1.      Case Manager.  Someone who is familiar with all the available services and has an understanding about the homeless population.
2.      Operations Manager.  Someone to be in charge of all the wrap around services that we will offer and be in line for the Executive Director position when we get the transitional facility open.
3.      Live on Site Manager.  We will provide a trailer home for them on site and they will be responsible for the day to day operations of the winter shelter.
4.      Site “Mother”:  We will also have an on site “mother” to work as the conduit between the clients and caseworker.

In Closing:  
Looks like I have my 2022 cut out for me.  I am grateful for the Board Of Directors, the Advisory Board, and for all the volunteers and people who have supported HAS in so many ways.
“I believe that we can so we will!!”  I got two favorite Christmas presents: one was a bracelet so inscribed and the second was a silver heart from a homeless person who told me I give hope!

Happy New Year, let's end homelessness!!

Annie Falandes

Homeless Action Sonoma, Inc.
hassonoma.org
[email protected]
707 304-0502




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