As Home for the Holidays draws nearer...

I just realized that it's been a while since I posted- sorry about that. We've been really busy ramping up for Home for the Holidays (December 15th at Osceola Heritage Park) and getting things in order for our own grand opening coming up in January. We had our first resident volunteer day several weekends ago so that our families could start cleaning up their future homes- very exciting!

Thank you to those of you who have used the Amazon link on the right hand side of this page- we've earned almost $15 already! Funds earned from your clicks and purchases are used exclusively for emergency assistance and program supplies, so every little bit helps.

Upcoming events...
We've got a busy couple of weeks ahead of us, with lots of options for you to get involved. On Thursday evening, Fun Spot will give you free admission (rides and all) if you bring a toy worth at least $10. There will also be food and entertainment- it should be a great time!

December 7th marks the date of the last Project Homeless Connect of the year. For more information on the event and how to volunteer, click the link to the calendar event that's to the right hand side of the screen.

Of course, next week, beginning on Monday, volunteers are needed at Osceola Heritage Park to start sorting toys and food for Home for the Holidays. Please call Sue Ring at (407) 933-0870 x221 to register as a volunteer. You can also sign up to volunteer on the day of the event through Sue.

On December 21st (the longest night of the year), a vigil will be held to commemorate the lives of people who have died while homeless. I will post more information as soon as it becomes available.

Now some stats...
November was quite a month. We received our highest call volume ever from families in need of assistance. 36% of those calls were from intact or extended families- much higher than usual. 29% identified their primary need as affordable housing, while another 25% were in need of emergency shelter, usually due to an eviction or foreclosure. We helped several families who were living in cars or had been living without electricity for an extended period of time. We have also received several calls from families whose home is in foreclosure- did you know that FIVE Osceola zip codes are listed among the top 500 zips in terms of raw numbers of foreclosures?! The most unfortunate part is that we receive foreclosure and eviction calls far too late in the process to provide any sort of prevention services. We might be able to work with a family that is just starting to struggle, but by the time they reach out, the problem has snowballed.

It also seems that rising gas prices have had a domino effect on many families- not only is their gas budget stretched, but groceries have gotten really expensive, and other prices have gone up as well. Even the mainstream news media has acknowledged this- one of the local news networks aired stories about groceries and foreclosures within a 30 minute time period. You know it's bad when local economic issues trump Britney Spears' latest outburst for airtime... Sphere: Related Content