Since May
5, 23 members of the wider Claremont community have been determining the extent
of homelessness in the area through Claremont’s Summer to End Homelessness”
(CHAP) campaign. After an orientation and training event on June 8, eight teams
of two advocates began working with the first eight homeless participants to
negotiate the service maze and attempt to secure permanent affordable housing.
By the end of September, the two
CHAP outreach volunteers had observed 48 homeless individuals on the streets,
in the parks and in tarp covered enclaves across the community. One of the
group’s major findings is that there are no year-round shelters or affordable
housing opportunities in this community for homeless males. Most volunteers in the program will continue
assisting homeless individuals in the program and new people who come to our
attention. A new emphasis will be to
find or develop shelter and/or affordable housing opportunities.
On Saturday January 18, 2014 a
“Second Half Kick Off” meeting will be held at the Hughes Community Center,
1700 Danbury Avenue from 10 a.m. to noon.
The meeting will be a report back to the community and a solicitation of
additional volunteers to assist in a variety of ways with new CHAP efforts moving
forward: over night accommodation hosts; advocates; CHAP community café
servers; transporters; and working group members (housing, food, health,
employment and fundraising). Come find
out about ways you might help. For more information, contact Karl Hilgert at karlhilgert@gmail.com.
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