November is National Homelessness Awareness Month and Community Partners of Hope are hosting a couple of events this weekend that organizers hope will shed some light on some of the reasons that people find themselves in need of a place to lay their head at night and how the community can help.
As CPOH’s new executive director, Jhan Dotel-Vellenga said she hopes the community will come out Friday evening from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. to learn more about homelessness in general and the local men’s shelter in particular. The shelter will have an open house on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The programs will take place at the men’s shelter, located at the former City Road United Methodist Church, 903 N. Garnett St., Dotel Vellenga said on Thursday’s segment of The Local Skinny!
CPOH is kicking off a campaign to raise $80,000 – the amount needed to keep the shelter and programs running for three months, Dotel-Vellenga said.
As a former missionary in Central America and the Caribbean, Dotel-Vellenga said her new role at CPOH incorporates her passion for ministry by helping to empower people and leading them to a life of dignity.
“There are so many people trying to do good for the community,” she said, “trying to improve the lives of the people who have needs.”
There may be many reasons someone is experiencing homelessness, whether they’ve lost their home to foreclosure or some other reason, Dotel-Vellenga said.
She and others at CPOH are hoping to change the community mindset by addressing the misconceptions that surround homelessness
“We want to work in partnership with others to help these men and the community at-large to overcome” the stigma that so often accompanies homelessness.
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