Tara Levine is a Saint Joseph’s University Student and Social Media Intern in our Social Enterprise Program.
On June 12, thousands of individuals were brought together during the Philadelphia Pride Parade and Festival. The Project HOME Social Enterprise team was among these individuals, serving as a vendor during the festival celebration at the Great Plaza at Penn’s landing.
Since its inception in June 2014 the Culinary Literacy Kitchen at the Free Library has been revolutionizing the way the city of Philadelphia thinks about food. Offering over 350 classes a year, the kitchen teaches and educates on all things food. From children learning how to use a chef’s knife to hosting cookbook authors and local chefs, to hosting and promoting our own Sister Mary’s Sinfully Delicious Cranberry Sauce the Culinary Kitchen is making an impact on local health.
Valentine’s Day means something different to each of us. Here at Project HOME, we focus on the grateful love within our community shared within our organization. We celebrate Valentine’s Day by demonstrating appreciation for the people who have woven their way into our lives and taking moments to reflect with gratitude. In Social Enterprise, Valentine’s Day boils down to the friendships and care for others that has grown from relationships between residents, volunteers, and staff working together.
For Project HOME resident Julia Galetti, art is more than a hobby. The recipient of multiple Leeway Foundation Art and Change grants, Galetti works across multiple mediums. Her portrait subjects range from vintage Rockettes to First Lady Michelle Obama in the White House Rose Garden. Twenty-three years clean, Galetti says that art helps her maintain her sobriety.
Hyacinth King’s journey from homelessness to hopefulness is truly remarkable. The only child of parents who owned a chain of grocery stores, Hyacinth says growing up she “lived really well.” Hyacinth attended Friends Select School and went on to graduate from Temple University with a business degree.
Seemingly no one walks away from Philadelphia’s Project HOME without being deeply moved in some way. Maurice Grimes, a current Drexel University student and Lower Merion native, is no exception. Grimes says working alongside the Project HOME residents who have experienced homelessness has been nothing short of transformative.
“I hear their stories. They’ve lived a life that not many do, and it’s an unfortunate one. It makes you feel grateful for anything you have and you see their gratitude for what they’ve escaped. And it’s real. That’s what Project HOME does.”
Two years after “recuperating from life on the streets” Project HOME resident Amber shows the transformative effects supportive employment can have on those who have experienced homelessness. Since arriving at her new home, Amber admits she’s had to adjust to how quiet it can be, but now she says she “can comfortably sleep at night.” Amber’s rest is well deserved and needed given that she spends her days working in a variety of roles at Project HOME through the organizations’ Employment Services Apprenticeship program. Her job placement is as a Social Enterprise Crew Member.
“I was heartbroken, I was home-broken,” says resident Miss Lorene when speaking about her life before encountering Project HOME. “They were so nice to me, they gave me a place to stay, a place to call my own. They gave me wholesomeness.” Miss Lorene had been living “door step to door step” when one of our volunteers found her at a crisis center in 2011. Of the experience Miss Lorene, who is now five years sober, says, “God blessed me, because she came.”
Without question, Project HOME is a transformative place. But, for one Project HOME resident, the transformation has been more visible than most. Since moving in to supportive housing in April of 2014, resident Bryan Mitchell has managed to lose 50 pounds and quit smoking. Mitchell, a 50-year-old native of Sharon Hill, describes his time at Project HOME as “therapeutic.” Mitchell started out his workout routine small, building up his endurance by working out 15 minutes at a time.
