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June 2009

 

 

The 

Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition

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Meet Our New VISTA Summer Associates June 2009
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 VISTA Summer Associates

This summer, The Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition has been fortunate enough to hire four VISTA Summer Associates. These four new additions were chosen to help four of our agencies in their fight against poverty for ten weeks. Please read on to learn a little bit about each of these individuals.

 
 
 

Neil Lumbard- Waco Housing Authority

My name is Neil D. Lumbard. I just turned 20 in late April and graduated this May from MCC with an A.A. degree in General Education, with an emphasis in the Arts. In the near future, I am intent on studying film at UT and will participate in the local independent film community. My main interests include film direction and scriptwriting.
As a VISTA member working with Kate Ross CCLC, Waco TECH, It has been my pleasure to assist the Waco Community through non-profit service. I decided to work with VISTA because of my interest in helping the Waco community, and I felt that this would be a good summer job to have at the same time. My main area of work will be marketing. I will also be working in an educational summer program  that helps young people learn how to use computers, developing a website, and helping to oversee grant research. I hope to achieve a lot at my service organization and am looking forward to learning more about my community and the ways I can help it continue to grow and succeed.

 
 
 

 Kristin Pope- Mission Waco’s Meyer Center

In 2004, I graduated from Berry College with a degree in Government. Since then, I’ve spent my time managing coffee shops, most recently a Starbucks. One of Starbucks’ guiding principles is to be involved with the local community. Taking this principle to heart, I began working with Project Homeless Connect, where I met Jenny Clines, an Americorps VISTA volunteer.
Through Jenny, I learned more about the VISTA program and other volunteer opportunities in Waco. I chose VISTA because of my interest in helping my local community. It is also providing me an opportunity to learn about how an established nonprofit addresses issues in its community.
Currently, I am working for Mission Waco at the Meyers Center. I help participants get the services they desire, and I assist with the Homeless Management Information System.

 
 
 

 Jordanna Dagley- ACTS Christian Fellowship

My name is Jordanna Dagley and for as long as I can remember I’ve loved helping people. When the information about VISTA came across my table I was interested at once! This summer I will be working at Acts Christian Fellowship – an inner-city church with a vision to reach the poor and homeless community. Acts has many poverty and homeless programs that I will be participating in and hopefully will help to make more efficient and reach a greater number of people. Two of my main focuses will be on The Storehouse that Acts runs every Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and garnering support from the community to create a daytime area for homeless people to come to in one of the buildings owned by Acts. I am so excited about this summer and cannot wait to see all that happens!

 
 
 

 Alec Warren- Family Abuse Center

My name is Alec Warren. I decided to participate in the Americorps VISTA Summer Associates Program in order to better utilize my strengths where they intersect with the community’s needs. I will be volunteering at the Family Abuse Center. The majority of my time will be spent with children. I will be attending children’s groups and leading summer activities as well as teaching positive communication, conflict resolution, and anger management to youth in the community. Through working with the Family Abuse Center, I am able to provide warmth, care, protection, confidence, encouragement, and constructive discipline to a group of children that most desperately need to be shown that “love doesn’t have to hurt.”

 
In This Issue
Meet Our VSAs
Neil Lumbard
Kristin Pope
Jordanna Dagley
Alec Warren

Website Update
We are in the process of changing our website. Our new site will soon be found at www.heartoftexashomele
ss.org . We are working with a webdesigner to assist us in building the site. So, the site is not accessible yet, but it will be soon. We will keep you posted!

Thanks!
Thank your for your interest in The Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition. We look forward to seeing you at our July meeting on the 17th at MHMR at 11:45!
Jenny Clines
VISTA Member
254-722-7644

 
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Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition | P.O. Box 23025 | Waco | TX | 76702

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March 2009

 

 
Recap of the First of The Year
In this issue…
City Council Poverty Presentation
Project Homeless Connect 2009
HUD Grant 2008
Updates
The Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition March 2009
Greetings!

We at The Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition appreciate your interest in and support of the agencies in our region that support our homeless neighbors. We hope that this newsletter will help everyone stay up-to-date on what is happening with these agencies. We hope that you find this information useful and valuable.
Kenneth Moerbe
Board Chair
HOT Homeless Coalition

 
The HOT Homeless Coalition

P.O. Box 23025
Waco, Texas 76702
254-722-7644

Next HOT HC Meeting

The next Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition will be on Friday, April 17. We will meet at 11:45. The location is TBA. Lunch will be provided by True Light Jesus Ministries. You don’t want to miss this chance to learn more about what is happening in our community to fight homelessness.

Poverty Presentation to Waco City Council

On Tuesday, March 24, The City of Waco Department of Housing and Community Development made a presentation to Mayor Virginia DuPuy, City Manager Larry Growth, and The Waco City Council. The goal of this presentation was to highlight the issue of poverty in Waco.
 
Jimmy Dorrell of Mission Waco and Kenneth Moerbe of The Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition and The McLennan County Hunger Coalition shared their observations on Waco’s state of poverty. Ken Martin from the Texas Homeless Network and Paula Wood from the VA in Temple also expressed their views on how Waco compares with the rest of the state.
 
With poverty in Waco currently at an astounding rate of 27.6%, more than twice the national average, more people are beginning to recognize the necessity of tackling this problem immediately. Everyone present at the meeting on Tuesday felt confident that the City Council was really behind the efforts to lessen poverty in our community and is ready to join the service providers in the area to confront the problem.

Project Homeless Connect 2009

Project Homeless Connect 2009 was a great success!  Project Homeless Connect is an annual event that draws together many of the area’s service providers into one central location so that individuals in a state of homelessness may have a day of one-stop-shopping to get all of their needs met. This year it was held on January 29th.
 
Some of the services for our 96 homeless neighbors this year included assistance filing for food stamps, the option to sign up for job training classes at The Heart of Texas Workforce, and a chance to learn about the many service providers in the Waco community. There were also numerous services specifically for veterans that focused on getting them signed up for the benefits for which they are eligible after having served in the armed forces. Dr. Patel and Dr. Schultz, local dentists, provided dental screenings and care for 36 individuals. The VA, Family Health Center, and the McLennan County Public Health District treated many minor ailments and performed screenings for blood sugar, blood pressure, and HIV/AIDS.
 
Over one-hundred volunteers lent a hand including City staff members, McLennan Community College Mental Health students, Baylor School of Social Work students, and members of local churches. Donations came in many forms including gift cards to local fast food restaurants, blankets, heavy coats, and hygiene products.
 
ACTS Christian Fellowship was kind enough to provide their church as the facility for this event. They also contributed lunches for all of the volunteers and the clients. Their generosity is greatly appreciated.
 
The Homeless Coalition is grateful and excited about how well the event turned out and is looking forward to even more services and guests next year.

HUD Continuum of Care Grant 2008

The results of the 2008 HUD Continuum of Care Grant are in. This highly competitive grant is awarded to agencies across the country who are serving the homeless in their communities. In our region Compassion Ministries, Family Abuse Center, and Mission Waco were all awarded for their supportive housing programs. In total, McLennan County was awarded $453,235. Congratulations to those agencies who received funding. Thank you to the many people who worked so hard on the grant proposal. Waco’s scene of homeless service providers would be so different without the help form all of you.

VISTA Information

Waco service providers have some new options for increasing their volunteer capacity. Americorps VISTA is a national volunteer organization under the Federal Center for National and Community Service. Similar to the Peace Corps, VISTAs fight poverty through indirect service. For more information please visit AmeriCorps.gov/VISTA.
Kenneth Moerbe has just learned that Waco has the opportunity to employ 10+ VISTA Summer Associates. VISTA Summer Associates are VISTA’s who serve for 70 days (10 weeks), beginning June 1st, or 8th, or 15th, 2009.   
Also, through the Coalition, there are 3 full-term VISTA positions, one of which Jenny Clines is filling until 7/17/09. That VISTA Member position will be filled by Chelle Samaniego.  That will leave two full-time VISTA Member positions, which the HOTHC could fill for service in one of our agencies. Please contact Kenneth at kpmoerbe@grandecom.net as soon as possible if you are interested in a VISTA Member or a VISTA Summer Associate. 

 

Updates from Our Agencies

Is your agency expanding its services? Are you working with a whole new group of people? Do you have an event coming up? Email jennyc@ci.waco.tx.us to have your announcement made in this newsletter.
 

Thank you to the Cooper Foundation

The Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition would like to express gratitude to the Cooper Foundation for their support.

The Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition strives to foster community awareness of the issues of homelessness, and to be a coordinated network of services for all individuals in a state of homelessness in Bosque, Falls, Freestone, Hill, Limestone, and McLennan counties.

 

 
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Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition | P.O. Box 23025 | Waco | TX | 76702

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