Newswise — With the U.S. economy facing its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression more and more people are facing the prospect of homelessness, and among those ranks are a growing number of middle class families.
The unemployment rate is the highest in more than 14 years and according to the Mortgage Bankers Association more than 1.5 million homes are in the process of foreclosure.
It's a double whammy that is threatening to overwhelm organizations trying to help the homeless. In New York City the number of newly homeless families entering shelters is at a record high. In San Francisco, shelters are unable to cope with the increased demand for services.
"We're seeing the impact of this global financial crisis on our streets, and it's getting worse every day," says Judith Klain, Director of Project Homeless Connect. "What's particularly difficult is that just as the need for help is rising, the ability to meet that increased demand is falling. Individuals and organizations just don't have a lot of money to spare right now."
That's why volunteers are more than ever the key for the next Project Homeless Connect (PHC) event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street in San Francisco, on December 3 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is part of National PHC Week (December 1-7) which is being marked in San Francisco and dozens of other cities around the U.S.
Volunteers help provide desperately needed services to all those who come to the event. Those services range from helping people get temporary housing, to signing up for safety net programs such as SSI or General Assistance, or just accessing health care with medical, dental and vision check-ups.
Kaiser Permanente is leading the way in answering the call for support and more volunteers, by sponsoring the December PHC.
"Part of our mission at Kaiser Permanente is giving back to the communities we serve," says Robert Mithun, M.D., Physician-in-Chief at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco. "We have a long tradition of supporting community programs, reaching out to those less fortunate. That is why we are happy to be part of Project Homeless Connect, it allows us to help people in need, to lend them a hand and to help them maintain the dignity they deserve."
This is the fourth year that Project Homeless Connect has been helping people in need. Since October 2004 some 18,600 volunteers have helped provide services to more than 26,600 homeless and poor San Franciscans. In that time almost 6,000 people were screened for benefits, more than 3,000 were given help finding a job, and almost 5,000 got medical care.
"Over the past four years we've helped a lot of people," says Alex Tourk who was instrumental in helping create Project Homeless Connect. "We have a lot to be proud of. But with more and more people losing their jobs, their healthcare and their homes it's clear our work is far from done. That's why, this holiday season, we need people to enter into the spirit of giving, and volunteer."
PHC has proven so effective that it is serving as the model for similar programs in more than 200 cities across the U.S. as well as in Australia and Canada.
For more information contact Kevin McCormack or go to http://www.projecthomelessconnect.com
About Project Homeless ConnectProject Homeless Connect makes a real difference in the lives of the City's homeless by bringing together almost 250 non-profit agencies, private businesses and volunteers to assist San Franciscans in need. Since the program's inception in October 2004 as a joint effort of San Francisco's health care, housing and human service systems, Project Homeless Connect has been supported by tens of thousands of volunteers, individuals and companies giving their time, cash, clothing, food and essential services. To date, this program has provided services to thousands of the City's most economically disadvantaged men, women and children with basic human needs and housing. Project Homeless Connect is a key component of Mayor Newsom's 10-year plan to abolish homelessness in San Francisco. This unprecedented approach to helping the homeless has been adopted as a national model in more than 170 jurisdictions in the U.S and has also been implemented in Canada and Australia.
About Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente, founded in 1945, is a non-profit integrated health care organization, with physicians, nurses and staff working in collaboration to provide high quality care to patients and address the health care needs of communities served by the organization. The Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region serves almost 3.2 million members. It includes 6,400 physicians in The Permanente Medical Group (TPMG) and about 54,000 employees. The region has 20 major medical centers. In 2007, Kaiser Permanente dedicated about $447 million to a variety of community programs and agencies in Northern California. For more information, visit http://www.kaiserpermanente.org
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