November 2018 Newsletter

December 2018

REACH Home News

OUR GUESTS. We now have 26 + men and women guests in our home. As the cold weather moves in, we are thankful that we can give these guests a safe place, and we are thankful to all those who are helping with the meals each evening. Our guests speak glowingly of the food and the people who serve it. REACH would not be a HOME without these volunteers. There are still open dates, please click here to sign on: MEALS

Funding REACH Home

We are concerned that our funding is not doing as well as in previous years. Currently we have sufficient funds for the next two weeks. We know of funds that will come in this month to carry us through to the end of the month. We do not know how many of our guests will qualify for County reimbursements, nor can we be certain as to when those funds will be paid out. So we appeal to our readers to consider a Christmas Gift to REACH Home. Please be as generous as you are able. And thank you for your support.

A gift of $6000 covers the cost for one person for the season.

A gift of $210 covers the cost for one person for a week.

A gift of $30 covers the cost for one person for a day.

Please consider a gift that you can afford. All gifts are tax deductible. Checks should be made out to FLACE - REACH Advocacy and mailed to REACH Advocacy, P.O. Box 10845, Rochester, NY 14610 or you may give through our bank by clicking here: DONATIONS When prompted please choose REACH Advocacy from the list of organizations.

***********************************

REACH DONATION LIST : Many of these items appear on our Walmart and Amazon Wish Lists

Household Supplies :

· Toilet paper, paper towels

· Pod style laundry detergent

· Pod style dishwasher detergent

· Hand sanitizer such as Purell

· Anti-bacterial hand soap.

· Travel size deodorant and shave cream

Kitchen Supplies :

· Sponges

· quart and gallon storage bags for leftovers

· Trash can liners or contractor bags-LARGE! 55 gallon

· Disinfectant cleaners such as Clorox Clean-up

Groceries :

· Coffee

· SUGAR and powdered creamer

· CEREAL

· Ramen noodles

· Canned soup

· Hot Chocolate, tea (especially for colds)

· Cereal bars, pop tarts

Clothing : We hope to limit the kinds of clothing we accept this year as we are a small temporary shelter and do not have space or staff for a full clothing room.

· Sweat shirts and sweat pants for men and women, all sizes

· Warm fleece pajama bottoms for men and women-all sizes s to xl

· BOXER BRIEFS-all sizes

· LADIES UNDERWEAR-all sizes

· WARM GLOVES AND HATS FOR MEN AND WOMEN

· Heavy winter jackets

· BOOTS!!..one of the hardest things for us to find

Miscellaneous

· Blankets and comforters (Not throws or lap blankets)

· Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Cough drops (honey lemon)

Donors may also wish to go to our links to these two vendors to see our wish lists Walmart and Amazon .

OPEN HOUSE We had an Open House on Saturday, November 10. Over fifty people came. We share some photos and thank all who came bearing gifts.

CHRISTMAS AT REACH HOME. We are planning to have a Christmas party for our guests and welcome any contributions or assistance. The date is to be determined. Please contact Sarah Peters at reachrochester@gmail.com if you would like to help.

Meet a member of our Staff:

Herbert Lynch (59) is thankful to be with us this year. He was born in Cleveland and raised here in Rochester. As a young man he began to use drugs and spent several years battling this condition. Some of this time he was homeless. He has had a tough family life—for a short while he was married, but his wife’s children were abusive, and he had to leave. He came to Rochester to be with his brother, but that did not last as his brother’s wife wanted him to go. He left and slept in shelters and in the street. But now he has his own apartment thanks to Shelter Plus and he is so very thankful for all who helped him along the way to become drug free.

He has now been free for 10 years and we congratulate him on this achievement. At one point he was in a program in Syracuse called Destiny USA where he learned a good deal about who he was and the values he chooses to live by. He summarizes them in ten attributes: 1) Adaptable; 2) Committed to Excellence; 3) Competitive Spirit; 4) Innovative; 5) Patriotic; 6) Principled; 7) Self-developer; 8) Self-Oriented; 9) Fun Spirited; 10) Team Spirited.

Herbert believes that he has been given a second chance and now wants to give back to others. He lives by the following motto: “If you know better, you will do better; and if you do better, you will be better.”

Meet one of our Guests

Lavernne, who is sixty years old, has had some real struggles in life. Her father was murdered when she was young, and she and eight siblings were raised by her mother. At nineteen she had a falling out with her mother and was “kicked out.” She admits she was going through a wild stage, but she says that she had been sexually abused by several and soon began “hearing people talking in her ear.” She had a daughter at 17 but no longer has a good relationship with her. Although she qualified for Section 8 housing at one time, she “felt troubled” by where she was, did not pay her share of the rent as was evicted. She has been homeless since 2012 though she says that she has been clean for many years.

Lavernne would like to be free from the “voices that speak to her” and to get back together with family. When asked what kind of person she would like to be she says that she would like to be a loving, compassionate person who reaches out to others and enjoys a stable life.

As I listened to Lavernne I found myself thinking about the need for more permanent supportive housing for people like Lavernne, where she would be assisted by professional workers who would help her achieve the longing she has to be in a better place.

The Christmas story describes the struggle of a homeless couple seeking shelter. May the Spirit of this season bring joy and peace and shelter to all who are housing deprived.

Thank you for your interest and support of REACH.

For more information please check out our Website at reachadvocacy.org .