Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund (CHAF) www.CHAFund.org

Home Sweet Home for the Homeless Oct. 22, 2011

2011-10-01T08:29:00.001-07:00

PLEASE FORWARD TO FRIENDS! LET'S GO VIRAL!

YOU’RE INVITED!

HOME SWEET HOME TO OPEN DOORS FOR THE HOMELESS
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2011
Hyatt Regency, Cambridge

Please join us at Home Sweet Home on Oct. 22. You can taste delectable desserts donated by local pastry chefs, wine from local vineyards, enjoy a delicious buffet dinner with local ingredients, dance to the amazing LOVE DOGS and help the homeless move from shelters and streets to homes.

There's more info here: http://www.chafund.org/dessert2011.html

BUY TICKETS HERE: http://www.chafund.org/pages/tickets.html

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162264663824227

Just donate: http://chafund.org/pages/donation.html

About CHAF: http://www.chafund.org/

Love Dogs sound clips: http://www.thelovedogs.com/

AWESOME AUCTION ITEMS INCLUDE:
- TV Diner guest appearance with Billy Costa (http://www.billycosta.com/)
- One week at Provincetown condo
- Basketball autographed by Paul Pierce
- Tour of Formaggio Kitchen Cheese Cave
- Red Sox tickets
- Bruins tickets
- Ski & Stay packages at Sunday River & Sugarloaf

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

Homeless police, firemen and teachers

2011-10-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that city service workers like police, fireman and school teachers are showing up homeless at CHAF partner agencies HomeStart and the Cambridge Multi Service Center for the Homeless.

Who will put out fires and teach our children? It shows how homelessness can happen to almost anyone. A parent gets ill and can't work, the family falls behind in mortgage or rent payments, you're a paycheck away from life on the street and then yes, you lose your home and end up in the state emergency shelter system, which is all to often a motel room with microwave meals.

There's a great video here about a woman with 5 children living in a motel room in California.

Since 1999 CHAF has raised $1.6 million to help 1,500 homeless or near homeless families and individuals to move from a shelter to a home or, to retain the housing they already have. CHAF’s goal this year is raise another $150,000 to assist 125 more families with rental startup costs.

CHAF partner agencies focus on ‘prevention.’ When a family loses their home, it costs the state $40,000/year of our tax dollars to house that family in the state emergency shelter system. For an average $800, CHAF can help that same family to stay in the housing they have, avoiding the devastation and cost of homelessness. With follow up services from CHAF partner HomeStart, 95% of families remain in their home one year later.

For more info about CHAF: http://www.chafund.org/.

We welcome any donation you would like to make.

Cambridge Homeless Tent City

2009-10-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

"Cambridge: A tent city is a policy problem"
--Boston Globe editorial Oct. 9, 2009

"In proudly liberal enclaves, there is sometimes an unspoken alliance between the homeless and the wealthy. The homeless take up residence on street corners and in parks, while powerful neighbors maintain a virtuous silence, either out of respect for self-expression or a desire to turn their unfortunate brethren into a political statement: This city will not hide from sight the victims of an uncaring society."

to continue:

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/10/09/cambridge_a_tent_city_is_a_policy_problem/

"Surge in Homeless Pupils Strains Schools" NYTimes 9/6/09

2009-09-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

9-year-old Charity Crowel of Asheville, NC lives in a trailer rented for the summer by her parents. She said of her last semester, “I couldn’t go to sleep, I was worried about all the stuff,” and she often nodded off in class.

This New York Tmes story about the dramatic increase of homeless children in Asheville, NC has national implications and relates to the Cambridge, MA area as well.

A few quotes:

"While current national data are not available, the number of schoolchildren in homeless families appears to have risen by 75 percent to 100 percent in many districts over the last two years, according to Barbara Duffield, policy director of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, an advocacy group.

There were 679,000 homeless students reported in 2006-7, a total that surpassed one million by last spring, Ms. Duffield said."

“It’s hard enough going to school and growing up, but these kids also have to worry where they’ll be staying that night and whether they’ll eat,” said Bill Murdock, chief executive of Eblen-Kimmel Charities, a private group in Asheville that helps needy families with anything from food baskets and money for utility bills to toiletries and a prom dress.

“We see 8-year-olds telling Mom not to worry, don’t cry,” Mr. Murdock said."

Read the full NY Times story by ERIK ECKHOLM:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/education/06homeless.html?_r=1&em

NY Times Op-Ed Video: Scraping By

2009-08-07T20:46:00.000-07:00

"Op-Ed: Scraping By
In the first of a series by the filmmaker Stewart Thorndike on life during the economic crisis, a tent city in Redmond, Wash., is filling up with the newly homeless who are forming a makeshift community." New York Times website, 8-7-09

http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/opinion/op-ed/1194833176718/index.html#1247463860996

"5-Year Old Girl Feeds Nearly 18,000 Hungry San Franciscans; What Can You Do?" (VIDEO)

2009-07-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Inspirational story (with video) about a 5-year old girl who starts out collecting cans and raises nearly $4,000 to donate to a food bank:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/toan-lam/5-year-old-girl-feeds-nea_b_244854.html

---from Toan Lam's blog on the Huffington Post.

Toan Lam is founder of: http://www.GoInspireGo.com/, a website for people to post inspirational stories so others will be inspired and TAKE ACTION!!

"More Families Are Becoming Homeless"

2009-07-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR2009071102099.html?hpid=topnews

Homeless Book Club

2009-07-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

"The word is their bond" is a great story in today's Boston Globe about a successful lawyer in Boston who befriends a homeless man on the Boston Common. When they realize, over time, that they have a common interest in literature, they start a book club which meets weekly in a local church.

The church deacon has started the Oasis Coalition, a non profit to replicate this model and establish dozens of small social groups citywide, as a way of offering a discussion forum with more personal connection for the homeless community.

Read the July 5, 209 Boston Globe article by Jenna Russell: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/05/the_word_is_their_bond/
.

Ranks of homeless students are rising

2009-01-15T18:00:00.001-08:00

"In tough times, the ranks of homeless students are rising"
Boston Globe, Evelyn Nieves, Dec.21, 2008

"Some district's report increases up to 100 percent"

This article talks about the national crisis of homeless families and children:

"As foreclosures and layoffs force families out of their homes, school districts across the nation are struggling to deal with a dramatic increase in the number of homeless children.Some districts are seeing increases of 50 to 1oo percent or more........Educators say students without a stable home are at greater risk of becoming truants, developing behavioral problems and failing school...An estimated 2 million children (nationally) are at risk of homelessness because of the foreclosure crisis and economic downturn...Alex Rodriguez, 32, and Rosa Estevez, 26, both lost their jobs---he at a car-parts store, she at an insurance office---when their companies left San Francisco. Within 12 months, the and their 12-year-old son were homeless. They wound up at the San Rafael House, a family shelter..."You've got dramatic foreclosures plus a million job losses," said Philip Mangano, director of the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, the administration's lead organization for addressing homeless issues. "We would be naive to believe that this wouldn't have an effect on families already struggling, and it has."

To read more, click here.

"Homeless Parents Wish For Shelter"

2009-01-15T17:42:00.000-08:00

"Wish for the holidays: A roof over their heads"

Boston Globe City Weekly, 12/21/08

This article talks about homeless families in Cambridge staying in motels during the holiday season:

"Homeless, jobless and living at the Cambridge Gateway Inn with her two young daughter, Sadie Fry nevertheless considered herself one of the lucky ones."There are 654 homeless families at motels in the state of Massachusetts as of 12/10/08. "According to the Department of Transitional Assistance, motels receive an average of $85 per family per night, and the state places families in such arrangements when shelters are full."

To read more, click here.

Homeless Children

2009-01-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

Can you imagine what it’s like trying to raise children in a homeless shelter?At the end of the day, Zack watches his friends go home to parents waiting with milk and cookies while he takes the bus ‘home’ to a crowded, chaotic shelter.

There are as many as 50,000 homeless children in the state public school system, according to the Mass Department of Education. The average age of a homeless child is eight. Grades falter in times of transition as children change schools on average twice a year. It takes 4-6 months just to catch up.*

The statistics are alarming. As the economy “melts down” and goes through its adjustment, numbers of homeless are rising. Services will be cut as state budgets are cut. And where’s the bailout for the homeless? We’ve seen Wall Street bailed out and people say “Why not Main Street?” Well, what about people who are ‘on the street?’

Since 1999, the Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund (CHAF)’s community coalition has raised $1,350,000 to open doors for more than 1400 homeless and near homeless at risk families. Realtors, banks, other businesses and universities have come together with concerned citizens and civic leaders to help our neighbors in need. Yet there’s more to do!You can help! Volunteer, join CHAF’s board, talk to your local business about sponsoring, or make a contribution. You can help the homeless to find homes!

Can you imagine what it’s like trying to raise children in a homeless shelter?

To make a financial contribution to CHAF, mail your check to:

Cambridge Housing Assistance Fund
678 Massachusetts Avenue, Suite 502
Cambridge, MA 02138

or, click here.

*Info from Homework Help for Kids Without Homes by Monica Brady-Myerov at WBUR.org