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ImmaComm
Building & Informing Our Community
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A publication of ImmaCare Inc.
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ImmaCare Awarded $230K from
Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
to support the
Emergency Shelter
ImmaCare is incredibly grateful for the continued support from HFPG as we
provide services to those experiencing homelessness. Lou Gilbert, Executive Director, said, "It would be impossible to provide the critical services that we do without the support of HFPG. In addition to essential funding for Shelter Operations, HFPG offers tools to nonprofits in the Hartford area to help us strengthen as organizations. We are truly grateful to HFPG, as well as to our program officer, Dawn Grant, for her continued guidance."
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A Coordinated
Effort
ImmaCare’s Housing Navigation Center experienced its second COVID-19 outbreak late last year. Working closely with the Department of Housing, City of Hartford Department of Health and Human Services, and Journey Home, just before Christmas, clients were moved to a hotel outside of Hartford to help mitigate the spread. This was quite a disruption for clients, staff, and the Greater Hartford Coordinated Access Network (GH-CAN) as a system since ImmaCare was unable to accept new clients in housing crisis during this time.
Logistically, the basics of staff needing to get to the hotel took some figuring out, as some staff relies on public transportation. This created some challenges for case management, too. Our case management team needed to get creative on ways to safely engage clients and encourage them to continue to work on steps to secure housing.
Another concern was meals for the clients. ImmaCare is fortunate to have countless food groups that provide hearty dinners most nights of the week. Being temporarily displaced 15 miles away from our facility, dinner delivery became complicated. Coordinating resources, we secured Meals on Wheels to deliver lunches and dinners seven days a week. Breakfast was more of a challenge. The hotel didn’t have a kitchen that staff could cook in, so we purchased grab-and-go style breakfast items.
The Food Groups graciously understood when we had to suspend meals for a while. Many asked in what other ways could they help. We were fortunate to receive donations of breakfast items from several groups, making breakfast more enjoyable for clients, and slightly easier to manage for staff.
One group went above and beyond. St. Josephine Bakhita parishioners of Rocky Hill, along with friends of their parish, stepped up to provide healthy and hearty breakfasts. Through their efforts, the group delivered 14 breakfasts (and a nice supply of daily snack foods) over the course of six weeks. Items included bananas, muffins, yogurt, juice, milk, homemade egg sandwiches as well as breakfast sandwiches from McDonald’s and Panera Bread. “Our parish is truly blessed to be in a position to help those in need during these most difficult times,” said Carl Bach, Outreach Ministry leader at St. Josephine Bakhita. “Everyone just wanted to help in any way they could.”
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Jamaican fare for the residents to enjoy. Dishes included: curry goat, jerk
pork, curry chicken, rice, and stew chicken. "I really appreciated the tasty Jamaican dinner donated to Casa from Jerk Shack," said Otis, resident of Casa de Francisco. "It's especially nice when local Hartford businesses give back to the community."
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Journey to Independence
ImmaCare’s Emergency Shelter has been transformed to a Housing Navigation Center. At ImmaCare, we believe in offering easily accessible shelter and housing services to individuals experiencing homelessness. ImmaCare’s Housing Navigation Center is a new low-barrier, service-enriched shelter with a focus on individuals progressing toward ending their homelessness by working with staff and identifying issues that may be getting in the way of them being housed.
After being homeless and living on the streets for more than 12 years, Sam* came to ImmaCare in early February 2021. When Sam first came through our doors, he had no identification, no family, and very little knowledge of his past. This was his first time in a shelter and, due to his struggles with mental illness, he found it difficult to keep appointments with his case manager. Sam also greatly feared being judged, both by those trying to help him, as well as others also seeking our services.
Thanks to his case manager checking in with him daily, Sam started to open up about his fears and struggles. These conversations helped us understand that Sam’s biggest hurdle over the past 12 years was him not being able to do basic day-to-day tasks, which came to light after his aunt’s passing. His Aunt Rose* did nearly everything for Sam, and he couldn’t grasp how to do things on his own.
His case manager went straight to work, connecting Sam to the appropriate services he needed to succeed, including referrals to mental health and primary care resources, as well as reconnecting him with a conservator. As a result, Sam was able to get his disability benefits reinstated and he was back taking the medications he needed to prosper.
Since being connected to all the appropriate services, Sam has been keeping all his appointments, accepting guidance from his case manager on how to do day-to-day tasks on his own, and, most importantly, is now matched to a housing program and awaiting keys to his own apartment.
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Teresa A. Wierbicki
Director of Strategic Development
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