REACH believes that HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT
The problem is not homeless men and women,
but a shortage of truly affordable homes.
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REACH Home 2019-2020 Closed on April 30
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REACH Home closed after extending its season due to the COVID 19 pandemic to the end of April. It has been an amazing year and there are many to thank. Here are some of the key people:
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Brother Antonios and the Coptic Christian Community who gave us the space for this year's REACH Home. We are hoping that this is the beginning of a long relationship in caring for housing deprived men and women in our community.
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Pat Lorenzen and the staff and volunteers of St.Peter's Kitchen who supplied lunches and food supplies to our guests. We were blessed by their gracious hospitality!
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Some of our team practicing social distance as we close this year's operation. From left to right-
John Curran who managed our supplies and clothing room;
Amy Mincer one of our Social Work team who helps our guests with appointments and finding permanent housing:
Deacon Dan Callan who helps with the day to day operations and supervision of staff;
Andy Carey who chaired the REACH Home team and is the lead social worker;
Barb Deitz a social work intern who added many activities for our guests.
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Evelyn Penn who has been our House Manager for two years now and whose gentle but firm and at times humorous manner helped to create a real sense of home for our guests. During the COVID Crisis Evelyn worked with our more vulnerable guests at their hotel placement
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Jon Saulsgiver who, when he was not flying as a commercial airline pilot, uses his many skills to keep our laundry and other building concerns fully operational for the season.
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Carol Santos who coordinated all of the
evening meals brought to REACH Home by many people in our community. These meals helped to connect our guests with the wider community and before the COVID Crisis those who brought the meals and served them enhanced our sense of community.
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Sarah Peters who for the past several years has been our principal grant writer as well as ensuring that all donations are recorded and donors receive a letter of thanks. If you donated and did not receive a "thank you" it was because there was no record a mailing address.
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Deb Peiffer who is our key person for hosting our Facebook page and soliciting and maintaining our supply needs. Deb has been a part of REACH since its founding in 2015 and is a member of our Board and our Executive Team.
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Andy Carey
who chaired the Shelter Committee this year. Andy is also co-chair of REACH. REACH would not be what it is without Andy. He helped to bring this vision of care for the housing deprived into being. Read Andy's final REACH Home report
here.
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Editor's Notes
There are many more we should thank, our volunteer staff members, many of whom are formerly housing deprived persons and who work for a modest honoraria, those who offer medical and health care to our guests, and others who assist with maintenance concerns. REACH is a community based volunteer organization and we could not survive without widespread community support. THANK YOU!
We do have one ask as we end this year.
We need to strengthen our REACH Home Committee with additional volunteers, especially those who are younger. If you are looking for a volunteer opportunity please consider joining this team of people. As a volunteer you will:
- Engage with others to help transform the lives of men and women who find themselves housing deprived.
- Get first hand knowledge of what it is like to be housing deprived.
- Help to shape the operational mission of REACH Home 2020-2021.
Now the work of preparing for this next winter's shelter begins. We wish all of our readers and supporters safe living as we live through these challenging times. We are all in this together.
Peter W. Peters (Co-chair of REACH and Editor)
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Meet the Board
- This month Samra Brouk
Samra Brouk was born and raised in the City of Rochester and graduated from Pittsford Mendon High School before earning her B.A. at Williams College. Samra has always worked to provide quality services, greater opportunities, and vital support to those in need. This dedication to public service led Samra to join the U.S. Peace Corps, help local governments improve recycling efforts, empower youth advocacy initiatives, improve services for seniors aging within their homes and communities, and address inequalities in the public school system. As a leader in non-profit community development, Samra has spent a decade building educational, environmental, and senior services initiatives at organizations such as Chalkbeat, Recyclebank, Umbrella, and
DoSomething.org
.
Samra believes that housing is a human right and that it's incumbent on all of us to ensure that promise is fulfilled. The current pandemic has shown the fissures in our social fabric and requires action grounded in compassion and with a commitment to putting people first. REACH Advocacy aligns with this value and was created from the philosophy of "see a need, fill a need". Samra is excited to help REACH deepen its commitment to housing justice by aiding in fundraising efforts.
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- Deacon Dan resigned from the Board so that he could focus more on working with the people who come to REACH. The Board passed the following resolution:Resolved that the Board accepts with regret the letter of resignation from The Reverend Dr. Deacon Dan Callan. The Board takes this moment to express its profound thanks for the work Dan has done from the beginning of the REACH Home shelters to welcome and support our guests. In particular the Board notes the strenuous work done by Dan, and others, during the COVID 19 crisis. In accepting this letter of resignation, the Board is pleased to note that Dan will continue his direct ministry to and with our guests at REACH Home and we wish him well in all of his ministry as a faithful Deacon.
- Andy requested and was approved for a United Way grant of $36,000, these funds will support:
- food distribution, $12,000,
- security deposits and move in money, $10,000
- REACH Home shelter $14,000.
Thank you Andy for taking this initiative.
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Local News about the REACH community.
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A long time supporter and friend of REACH, Mike Gill, has been honored as a
2020 ESL Jefferson Award Winner
for his work with
Peace Village. For more details click
here
.
Congratulations Mike, well deserved!
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Donate to our funds
Every year we assist many guests into permanent housing
and assist them with deposits and moving expenses. In previous years we have been able to place 40% or more of our guests into permanent housing and we need the funds to make this happen. Please consider giving financial support to REACH.
If you are in a position of not needing the Rebate under the CARES Act, consider donating this to REACH as we shelter and assist men and women into permanent housing. We are a 501(c)(3) organization and all gifts are tax deductible contributions. Please mail checks to
REACH Advocacy, PO Box 10845, Rochester NY 14610.
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From Susan Maxwell, Chair:
On behalf of the Tiny Home Village committee I am submitting this report to the REACH board.
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The MOU with City Roots Land Trust has been approved and signed by City Roots and REACH. The Ground Lease is still being reviewed by the attorneys. Completion expected in mid-May.
- Though we anticipated Deep Hole soil analysis to be completed in March, this has been continually delayed due to Covid 19. The required documents requested by City Real Estate have been submitted. The drilling will take place once the Covid 19 restrictions have been lifted. It is believed that the drilling will be able to be completed by the end of this month.
- A Site plan of the property has been completed which will drive the completion of a cost analysis of the entire project. Cost analysis to be completed by end of May.
- In preparation for meeting with Community leaders and St. Paul community neighbors we have developed a FACT sheet and a Power Point presentation about the Tiny Home Village. We will be meeting with community and neighborhood leaders to share our vision of the Tiny Home Village by the end of May or early June. It is hoped that they will direct us in how best to provide information on the Tiny Home Village to the community at large.
- We are working with the REACH web designer to add the Tiny Home project as a subdomain to the REACH website. This will allow those in the community to access information regarding the Tiny Home Village.
Respectfully submitted
Susan Maxwell - Chair
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Play this video and see how we worked to prepare the site last summer and hear voices of those who share the vision of a Tiny Home Village. Please share this with others.
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The Advocacy Committee hosted a ZOOM meeting for its members on Tuesday, April 28. On the agenda for this meeting was discussion about our collaboration with the Tenant’s Union and supporting the action of several members to hold a “rent strike.” We were also to review a briefing book from the Homes Guarantee national organization of low-income renters. All of this is related to the unprecedented effects of the COVID 19 pandemic and the growing awareness of the how hard this pandemic is on those living on very low wages and unable to pay rent.
Unfortunately, only two Committee members showed up, as well as a member of the HSN Advocacy Committee. We had a good conversation but felt unable to proceed with business of the Committee due to the lack of members present.
We are aware of the stress of this time and hope that in the coming weeks we can find a way to meet and discuss further how we can assist REACH to identify it’s Advocacy role.
The chair continues to explore collaborative opportunities and in the coming week will have a conversation with a member of the Tenants Union and the chair of the Faith Leaders of Roc/ACTS.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter W Peters, Chair pro tem.
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Upcoming Events of interest:
- Volunteers needed to help clean up REACH Home in May. Please contact John Curran for more information jecurran@rochester.rr.com
- Spring cleaning opportunity - Please consider asking your faith community to host a Coat Box this coming spring to collect warm coats for the homeless to be distributed at the PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT ROCHESTER this coming Fall. If your faith community is willing to host a Coat Box please call Briana Parker at 585-315-8474 (cell) or 585-368-3726 (work).
- June 20 Poor Peoples' Virtual March on Washington. For more information click here.
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Thank you for your interest and support of REACH.
For more information please check out our Website at
reachadvocacy.org
. and please like us on Facebook!
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