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Thanks to all of you who donated to the matching grant challenge, we have qualified for the release of the Begun Foundation's matching funds for our collaboration with Shelter House to assist domestic violence victims in 2017. Your contributions, leveraged funds from the Consolidated Community Funding Pool, and new donations via our first Annual Family PASS Golf Tournament, helped us not only meet this year's matching grant, but put us well on our way to match the 2017 challenge.
Thank you!
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Family PASS Reaching More Families in Need
In September's newsletter we detailed our new Housing Stability Financial Assistance (HSFA) collaboration with Shelter House and Cornerstones to provide one-time assistance to families in danger of becoming homeless. Since signing that agreement in mid-August signing, we have assisted 25 families.
This summer Family PASS also signed an agreement with Northern Virginia Family Services to provide case management services to families that have qualified for Bridging Affordability (BA) Housing. BA housing provides rental assistance to qualified working families, with families assuming responsibility for a portion of the rent based on their income. Family PASS is helping three families in 2016 and has agreed to assist ten families in 2017.
Through our DVRRSP and BA collaborations, Family PASS is realizing one of its strategic goals to expand use of our intensive case management program in the county. The HSFA one-time assistance program fulfills our collaboration outreach and supports a core focus of Family PASS: to
prevent homelessness by helping families remain in their homes.
These collaborations are in addition to the clients we have from regular referrals from the county's Coordinated Services Plannning program and our community partners. In 2017 we anticipate up to 40 client families, representing nearly 20 percent of the 179 homeless families in the county reported in 2016.
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A family of seven came to us after a difficult year. The family had experienced the loss of immediate and extended family members. Caring for their relatives before their passing led to loss of jobs, income and eventually their home. They came to Family PASS in need of secure housing for their children to get back on their feet. In addition, their 22 year old son suffers from a traumatic brain injury.
Unfortunately, other county agencies were unable to solidify permanent supportive housing services for him. Family PASS was able to reach out to Pathways and begin the process of creating stable and permanent housing for their son. Now that their son is being cared for, the family is working with Family PASS to find a stable housing for themselves, a goal we hope to realize by the end of December.
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A Cornucopia of Generosity This Holiday
Season thanks to MOMS of OAKTON,
Crunch Fitness, Vienna Women's Club and The Church of the Good Shepherd
Vienna-Oakton communities came out in force
this November to help
our families and others in need.
A children's clothing and food drive by
MOMS OF OAKTON, and a food drive by
Crunch Fitness have stocked our pantry at St. Mark's to overflowing, allowing us to share with other families in need. Case managers boxed some of the overflow and delivered them to our families in time for Thanksgiving. Volunteers from the Vale Club, organized by Ann Marquis and Patti Cooksey, did yeoman's work, washing, folding and sorting all the clothing donations. Thank you Moms of Oakton, Vale Club and all our volunteers.
The Church of the Good Shepherd and the Vienna Women's Club
Raise Funds for Family PASS
Two community groups, the Vienna Women's Club and The Church of the Good Shepherd UMC, also added to our cornucopia by hosting two special fundraising events.
On November 16th, the
Vienna Women's Club teamed up with
Talbot's at
T
yson's
Corner to benefit Family PASS. Ten percent of all purchases from 5-8 PM at Talbot's was donated to Family PASS, raising nearly $800.
Many thanks to Jo Ann Kostkan, volunteers Doris Cooper, Paula Reeves, Jane Picard, Diane Abel, Barbara Michel and Lynn Rhoads and Talbot's manager, Natalie Schmidt for a fun and successful event!
And -- on November 19th car collectors and restorers competed for prizes while showing off their unique wheels. The
Thanksgiving Car and Bike Show, a successful first-time event, was the brain child of
The Church of the Good Shepherd's Reverend Eric Song, and his team. The entry fee was reduced if exhibitors also brought food to the event. Good Shepherd still raised over $3000 for Family PASS plus tons of food for the Family PASS pantry.
And the Best is for Last - St. Mark Catholic Church Donation
The members of St. Mark Catholic Church, through St. Mark's Tithing Allocation Committee, have donated $14,000 to Family PASS to help fund our work in the community. This is a most generous gift from those at St. Mark who have helped Family PASS throughout our ten year history and we are grateful to them for their continued support.
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Remember, Family PASS's
Friends in Deed volunteer group is looking for people who would like to help out with our clients' occasional special needs. If you are interested in learning more, our FAQ is located
here. To sign up, send an email to
friendsindeed@familypassfairfax.org.
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Reach Out:
Share Family PASS news with friends on Facebook and Twitter - help us get the word out to our Vienna-Oakton-Reston-Tysons community!
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Family PASS's United Way# is 8371.
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Family PASS's CFC# is 43287.
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| The work of Family PASS is supported in part with a grant from The Consolidated Community Funding Pool of Fairfax. |
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