Making a Difference:
One Family at a Time
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This is a hard time for many of us. Graduations and proms cancelled, weddings, trips, and so much more. But we can put that into perspective. There will be other milestones to celebrate. We’ll get through this.
When we wrote over a year ago about the more than 20,000 families in Fairfax County living at high risk of
becoming homeless, we envisioned the impact a potential economic downturn could have on these families – pushing them into homelessness and overwhelming our safety net system of nonprofits. We thought that was our Worst Case Scenario. The thought of a pandemic and its economic consequences, far greater than those of a recession, never crossed our minds.
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Client Numbers Rising Daily
For the last week in April and first two weeks in May we had an unprecedented number of requests totaling over $35,000 in emergency rent relief. These new clients had been employed and now face eviction, food shortages and other household needs. The County’s Coordinated Services Planning (CSP) which sends clients to us, initially saw a 224% increase in daily requests in April from a year ago but that has tapered down to a 143% increase as of this week.
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Good News
The good news is help on the way. Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors has stepped up to do its part and has approved disbursing Federal CARES emergency funds through its nonprofit homeless provider partners for relief, primarily rent, food and transportation. Virtually all the funds go directly to families and individuals in need, with only 5% allocated to administrative costs. While this will allow Family PASS to provide emergency funds to many new clients, we have already doubled the workload of our case management staff with referrals from the county in March, April and May. We have been serving these new clients even without the county CARES funds.
Our nonprofit partnership organizations hold daily calls, updating everyone on information from where testing sites are to new food bank locations, with the objective of serving those in need as efficiently and quickly as possible without duplication of effort. The County Health Department noted that while Pop-Up testing sites can serve all residents, they are especially concerned about making sure low income high at risk populations have access to testing.
Click
here
regularly for Fairfax County testing site updates and Convid 19 information. There are two new sites listed for this weekend.
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What's Next?
We don’t know. Even as businesses begin to open in June and potentially schools in late summer, the future remains uncertain. For Family PASS, we are looking beyond all the emergency funding to what we will need to carry on our work. As one board member noted, the end of this year is the end of emergency funding but not end of the problem. No one knows how fast businesses will recover, whether there will be a spike in cases, or, as noted above, whether jobs will be recovered.
Our concern is what do we need to do to help our families get back on their feet?
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Thank You to our Supporters!
Our community has provided tremendous support to Family PASS as we help a growing number of families each week. And what really helps us keep our spirits up while working semi-remotely, are the wonderful notes you include with your donations wishing us well and thanking us for our work. We’ve said it many times before: we could never do it without you.
Just before the shutdown, Family PASS was able to carry out its Poverty Simulation (March 12
th) with over 70 people attending. Here is a letter we received from one of the participants:
We are glad to be able to contribute to Family PASS’s work during
this time of severe disruption for so many families. We participated
in the poverty simulation and found it most instructional and emotional.
Thank you for all the good work you do.
And a simple but meaningful message that many of you have sent in with your checks:
Thank you for all the good work you do. God Bless.
People who participated in the Poverty Simulation lived the lives of the working poor for one hour. They experienced the frustrations and the choices people without resources were forced to make --and that simulation was designed for “normal” times. It isn’t difficult to imagine what those simulated families must be going through now. Hopefully we can do another simulation next year.
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We also want to thank the many volunteers from The Vale Club and St. Mark, Moms of Oakton, and others for helping to keep our pantry filled and recent donors Sawol Gebre, Mary Romagnoli, Jane Miscavage, Charles Allen, Dan & Jacqueline Hoyle, Nancy & Larry Socher, Julie Griscom & Raymond McGraw, Mark & Jennifer Schmitt, Marty & Maureen Cohen, Joe & Barb Celio, Virginia Johnson, John & Vicky Nelson, Donnar & Thomas Whitaker, Jane Gurin and Jim Asker, Mark and Rita Perre-Davis, Betsy Zolper, Mark & Barbara Morneau, The Sienicki Family, Susan McKenzie, Liz & Randy Brouckman, Nancy Nolting, Betsy Zolper, Mary Farrell, Steve Winkler, Sipatela Sikaulu, Gabriella Belli, Charles Allen, Eleanor McCann, John & Judy Campbell, and Patrick Kinlan.
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Consider a donation from your incentive check.
Some people have gotten incentive checks intended to help people meet costs. If you are eligible for an incentive check, please consider a small donation to help others. Thank you!
And don't forget to "Like" us and get updates on our clients on
https://www.facebook.com/FamilyPASS
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Other News
As you know, our Spring Breakfast was postponed from April to June and now June is not possible. Our golf tournament, scheduled for October 5
th, is still a possibility but at this stage not confirmed. We are trying our best to keep everyone safe. As with everything else, it is difficult to plan ahead these days. Please stay tuned and we will let you know about both the breakfast and the golf event as soon as possible.
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HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY AND STAY WELL!
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Family PASS
2740 Chain Bridge Road, Suite 123
Vienna, VA 22181
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