Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Operation Stand Down

"One weekend a year, nearly a thousand military veterans assemble in a camp in San Diego. What brings them is what they have in common: they're all homeless. The vets gather for something called "Stand Down," started in 1988 by a soldier turned psychologist named Jon Nachison." ~60 Minutes

On July 10th, 60 minutes aired a special on Operation Stand Down, a program designed to help veterans combat homelessness and it's contributing factors. The program describes the difficulties that military personnell have when returning to civilian life and debunks the myth that homeless veterans are only from the Vietnam era. Operation Stand Down exists in over 50 cities across the U.S. and helps homeless veterans who served active duty from the Vietnam era to the Iraq/Afghanistan era.

Watch the inspiring 60 minutes video at http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7372852n
or read the story at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/21/60minutes/main20072997.shtml

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Orange County Habitat Focuses on Renovating Local Homes

By Caitlin Ball

The Daily Tar Heel
 
For four consecutive Saturdays Deloris Bynum watched from her 25-year-old porch as volunteers cleaned, hammered and painted her home.

“I’ve searched high and low for somebody to do the work, but I knew I couldn’t afford it,” she said.
To help those in situations similar to Bynum’s, Habitat for Humanity of Orange County kicked off its A Brush With Kindness program Saturday to ensure that low-income, elderly and disabled residents can maintain their homes.
Alex Bidot, community organizer for the organization, said the purpose of the program is to help repair the exterior of a home, whether it needs a paint job or more complex work.
“It’s a holistic approach to affordable housing,” Bidot said. “We’re really hoping that this is a consistent program that stays with Habitat because we feel that home preservation is just as important as new home construction.”
The volunteer group from three local churches that worked on Bynum’s house made small fixes on her home including fixing broken door jams, replacing rotting wood and applying a fresh coat of paint.
While it takes about 16 work sessions to complete traditional Habitat projects, A Brush With Kindness projects requires about a fourth of that time. Bidot said the program is also less expensive and has helped involve outside organizations that would otherwise be unable to commit the 50 to 60 volunteers needed to construct an entire home.
Sharron Reid, the organization’s family services director, said the program emerged locally when Habitat expanded its focus from solely families to the communities they live in as well.
“Habitat for Humanity has always had the mission of building affordable homes for families in need,” she said. “But as we built into different communities what we recognized was that there were homes within those communities that also needed some attention.”
Reid and Bidot helped compose the small group of family, friends and volunteers who celebrated Bynum’s home dedication ceremony Saturday.
There were many thanks and even more congratulations on all the hard work that was accomplished in such a short time.
“The whole group came together in love to help you with this project because we knew that it was a need,” Reid said.
As tears came to her eyes, Bynum stood in front of her freshly painted house and thanked those who had helped her.
“Each and every one of the people that came out every Saturday in the heat to work diligently on this house… I just truly thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

Support RSVVP Day!

"RSVVP" stands for "Restaurants Sharing 10 Percent" (the Vs are Roman numerals). Participating restaurants will contribute 10% of their total proceeds on that day to benefit the IFC Food Pantry and Community Kitchen.

Orange County restaurants have contributed over $348,000 on RSVVP Days over the past 22 years. Last year 100 restaurants raised a grand total of $20,044.29 for IFC food programs!

IFC is looking for donors to sponsor the promotional materials:  a graphic artist to design posters, brochures and table tents and the associated printing costs. Please support this important community-wide event. Your contribution will be nearly quadrupled in its effect on alleviating local hunger.

Go to the Connect to Charity page to make a donation online, or send a check to John Dorward at 110 W. Main Street - Carrboro, NC 27510.

Dine out on RSVVP Day for local hunger relief!
 

Welcome to March on Poverty

The Inter-Faith Council (IFC) believes that now is the time to stop poverty in its tracks. Many in our community are struggling to hang on; and many need the inspiration of our community leaders to do something about poverty's influence and prominence. We need everyone who cares about reducing poverty's hold over increasing numbers of Carrboro and Chapel Hill households and unsheltered persons. Our new March On Poverty blog summons you to our call and the original call of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the countless among us who have followed in his footsteps. You ask, "how long will this take?" Dr. King said "Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Poverty is the primary cause of homelessness and hunger, two community challenges IFC volunteers and staff cross swords with daily. A lack of an adequate response by state, federal and local governments enable and procrastinate these conditions. We seek to create a just community, one that is committed to overcoming social problems by a greater commitment to the common good. We hope our blog will bring you more in touch with these issues. We hope you will come to know the facts about IFC future plans, new program models and new facilities commonly called Community House and FoodFirst. We hope you will join us.

Stay tuned! Stay in touch! March On!

Chris Moran, Executive Director

View the Community House Mission & Vision

View the FoodFirst Mission & Vision