Women's Emergency Respite Center
Starting January 2010, Project H.O.M.E. once again has the opportunity to open it's doors to the Women's Emergency Respite Center for the second year. The Women's Emergency Respite Center serves a particularly vulnerable population: women with a long history of street homelessness, many of whom are incompatible or resistant to city-run shelter services. We will be opening the doors to the Respite starting January 11th, 2010, and will operate through April.
At the Respite we provided shelter, clothing, toiletries, showers, laundry facilities, and meals. In addition to working to engage guests each night about services and opportunities available, the Respite provided extended services during the week. With the help of our Resource Coordinator, we are able to make dozens of referrals around the guests' housing, legal, medical, psychiatric, and financial needs. The Resource Coordinator also accompanies guests on appointments and advocated for guests with service providers. Each evening the Respite guests are picked up by Project H.O.M.E.'s Outreach teams and are welcomed by a community of volunteers and staff. Thanks largely to last year's incredible generosity of volunteers, we were able to serve healthy, delicious, often home-cooked dinners each night and a warm breakfast to start each day.
As we are gearing up for another harsh winter season, we are again reaching out to our incredible volunteer community for help so that we can continue to provide these women a safe, warm and welcoming respite with the hopes of helping to connect this vulnerable population with housing and critically needed supportive services.
Volunteer Information
Volunteers are essential to all of our services and programs and Project H.O.M.E. This winter at the Women's Emergency Respite Center we are hoping to coordinate three to six volunteers per night to serve dinner from 6:30 until approximately 8:30. We apologize, but due to safety concerns, we cannot accept volunteers under the age of 16. Volunteers may provide the meal in addition to serving it, or they can prepare the meal and drop it off at 1515 Fairmount Avenue. Typical dinners will consist of soup, sandwiches, tea, hot chocolate and coffee. However, culinary creativity is welcome as long as you are willing to provide the ingredients, especially if the end result is a hot meal! Individual, group, one-time and ongoing volunteers are all welcome to assist with this opportunity. In addition, if any volunteers have an evening activity that they would like to facilitate (arts and crafts, etc), creative volunteer opportunities are available.
Also, one volunteer is needed each Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the end of April to assist with outreach efforts while the respite is in operation. A once-per-week commitment from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m., starting January 11, 2010 until around the middle of April, is preferred.
Contact Jennifer McAleese at jenmcaleese@projecthome.org if you are interested in volunteering. Please use the subject line "Respite" if you are sending an email request.
Donation Wish list
Below is our wish list for donated items to assist with our Women's Emergency Respite Center:
Food and toiletries
Dinners
Bread-rolls, breakfast items like bagels, white and brown loaves
Frozen Casseroles
Milk
Bananas
Breakfast foods like oatmeal, cereals, etc
Hearty foods: e.g. soups, cans of tuna, hot dogs, crackers, cookies, and baked beans
Butter and margarine
Oatmeal, dry cereal, bread
Peanut butter, jelly, honey
Coffee, tea, sugar, hot chocolate
Non-perishable snacks (granola bars, crackers, etc.)
Cough drops
Soup (canned or dried)
Drinks (milk, soda, juice, juice mix)
Soap
Lotion
Shampoo and Conditioner
Feminine hygiene products
Clothing/Linens
Blankets and towels (preferably new, but gently used is OK)
Pillows-plastic covered and non
New socks
Women's underwear of ALL sizes
Scrubs or PJ's
Flip flops for shower
Towels
Sweatpants and shirts
Hats, gloves, scarves
Other needed items
Hand sanitizer
Plastic cups, utensils, bowls
SEPTA tokens
Large trash bags
Latex gloves
Toilet paper
Paper towels
Band Aids
Laundry Detergent
Dish Detergent
Lousing Medication
Cleaning Supplies-bleach, sponges, buckets, disinfectants, wet mops
Disposable dinnerware
Serving utensils
Tin foil and plastic wrap
Games-board games, electronic etc.
Power strips/surge protectors
DVD/VCR player
Television
Small gift certificates to places like Wawa
Small combination safe
White board with markers
Videos and DVD's
Pitchers
To donate an item, please contact Lei Zhao at 215-232-7272, ext. 3057 or leizhao@projecthome.org.
