Ongoing Emergency in Greensboro Please Read
Paul Gydos
c/o Paul Gydos
Official Mailing Address:
P.O.B. 755
Greensboro, NC 27402
Administrative Office:
1400 Battleground Ave. Suite 116-G
Greensboro, NC 27405
Email: hafup...@gmail.com
Emergency
Dear Greensboro Faith Community and Friends,
We all know that our American lifestyles, the greed of mankind, and our economy is affecting us personally like we haven’t seen in our lifetimes. However please take a moment to reflect on how this is affecting the very poorest of people here in Greensboro and Guilford County.
The Winter Emergency program with the cooperation of the United Way Operation Cares, The Greensboro Urban Ministry, The HIVE, Grace Community Church, First Presbyterian, West Market St. UMC, and Pleasant Garden Baptist Church expanded the emergency overflow shelter system that already existed at GUM and The Salvation Army by about 40%. Nonetheless the annual Point in Time count shows that the number of people that are completely shelter-less out in the open increased again to over a thousand.
These men, women, and families are dear to me. At the shelter I stayed at this winter, two men are opening a restaurant, almost all became volunteers, we helped build the IRC (The Interactive Resource Center, a precursor to the Community Day Center that will welcome the poor), my family reconciled, me and my wife will be having twins in May, I was just promoted at the job training program at The Liaison Project from Warehouse Trainee to working with the Macintosh Computers on a special media project.
April 1st all this will end for over a hundred men, women, and families at overflow and they will go to the streets where housing is on average $150 more per month than they can afford, all emergency funds are backed up, Section 8 housing is closed, public housing is severely wait listed, jails are beyond capacities, and mental health services are not much better.
I congratulate the efforts of a new organization Greensboro Cooperative Housing which is assisting some of the under housed get into transitional housing, and this organization will continue to share resources with Faith Based and Non-Faith Based groups that would like to set up transitional housing and other solutions for helping the under-housed. I also admire the efforts of others such as Greensboro Housing Coalition, IRC, and others who are trying to leverage existing resources.
Its not enough, we must continue the Emergency Shelters now!
Jesus said that what was done to the least of these, you have done on to me. Will Greensboro house Jesus? Or will we turn him to the street.
This is my suggested action plan after talking with representatives from the Winter Emergency program, The Urban Ministry, Guilford County Emergency Management, and other in the community.
1) Take this to your church or civic organization and prayerfully consider that you will take in a group of from 8 – 20 people in your facility. Make as an immediate decision as is possible (Think of it as your son or daughter who will be under the bridge). Consider doing it for 2 or 3 months
2) Call the fire department as soon as possible and arrange for a special certificate of occupancy for this purpose.
3) Call your insurance company and get them in as soon as possible to assess the increase in insurance costs
4) Inform your congregants that they can volunteer or staff at your Ongoing Emergency shelter or at someone else’s then tell them that they can get initial training from us on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at the Tannenbaum Meeting Room at Greensboro’s Central Public Library Branch at 7:30. We will arrange additional staff and volunteer training as is necessary subsequently to that date
5) Take up a collection this weekend, for the purpose of offsetting organization’s insurance and utility increase and for contingencies such as blankets, pillows, mats, cots, toiletries, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and food.
6) Adapt the proven strategies as you see fit locally and stay in touch with the rest of the community as we do this so we can be more effective as a whole.
7) We should be getting better at transitional housing during this time.
Guilford County Emergency Management has said we can use this strategy as we have over the winter.
We need 3-8 new congregations or civic groups to do this and act immediately. Will you be one of them.
I have enclosed with this email a set of documents we used as a resource guide this winter plus some of our new ones. Hope to hear from you soon. Hopefully another email will go out tomorrow as to whom is our fiscal sponsor so we can tell you whom to send checks or monies to.
Thank You,
Paul Gydos
PS The Training on Monday is immediately preceded by this event (I’m one of the artists)
Reception for Homeless and Friends Art Exhibit – Monday, March 30, 5:30 pm
As a closing ceremony to the Winter Series, Greensboro Public Library is hosting a reception for the Homeless and Friends Art Exhibit that will be on display at Central Library through the end of March. The artworks are exhibited in the stairwell and second floor display cases of Central Library. The reception will be held Monday, March 30, at 5:30 pm in the Nussbaum Room at Central Library, 219 N. Church Street. All are welcome to attend.
The exhibit includes paintings and sketches, woodworks, jewelry and sculpture from found objects, and decorated walking sticks.
Winter Series is a community building program that is done in conjunction with Food Not Bombs to serve homeless people that are in the library everyday. On Monday nights during the winter months, the meal is served inside and programs are planned according to the interest of the participants.
Michele Forrest
"Nonetheless the annual Point in Time count shows that the number of people that are completely shelter-less out in the open increased again to over a thousand."
The total number of homeless people counted and reported in Guilford County, which includes unsheltered homeless people and those in homeless shelters, emergency winter shelters and transitional housing facilities, was 1052.