Help UPO Help the DC Homeless

On Giving Tuesday 11/29/16 The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will match up to $1 million in donations on Global Giving. That means there will be an unprecedented 50% match with $500,000 in matching funds!

Please make your donation to “Help UPO Help the DC Homeless” on Giving Tuesday 11/29/16 to be sure we get our fair share of the Gates Foundation’s generous bounty!

Thank you, dear loyal friends, for your generous support of our Help UPO Help the DC Homeless project to date. Your 181 donations have raised a total of $12,125! With your help UPO has achieved the Rewards status of Superstar on Global Giving. That makes you all stars. Let’s take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity on Giving Tuesday 11/29/16 and establish a strong base for our year end campaign with a goal of reaching and perhaps exceeding our current project goal of $15,000.

And these are the reasons why your support now is so vital!

Many of us have protection from the elements, from icy winters to searing summer heat, but the homeless do not. The summer heat and mild fall have come to a screeching halt replaced by low temperatures and hypothermia alerts and UPO’s Shelter Hotline vans out transporting DC homeless folk to shelters. With the sudden onset of winter we appeal for your continued support to help us raise money for comfort items for the homeless people we assist to get them through the tough winter months.

Although the 2015 Point-in-Time Count of Homeless Persons in DC (see PDF below) found an encouraging reduction from the 2014 count, UPO Shelter Hotline transported 155,476 DC homeless to shelters last year. Forecasts indicate that the coming winter could be another cold one for Washington DC. That being said we have to be prepared for the possibility of another severe snow storm like the one that hit the DC area last January, dumping 30” of snow in 36 hours creating extremely harsh conditions for the DC Homeless population. UPO Shelter Hotline worked tirelessly before, during and after the blizzard answering 2,784 calls from folks needing help and transported 2,111 people to shelters.

Funded by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness the UPO Shelter Hotline represents the entry point assisting Homeless folks off the street, transporting them to Homeless Shelters and providing them with comfort items. A 2015 Point-in-Time Count of Homeless Persons in DC (see PDF below) found that there were 7,748 homeless people in Washington DC on a single night. The 2015 Count was 7,298, a drop of 5.8%. Progress is slowly being made, but there is more work to be done.

Shelter Hotline staff maintains a census of available beds in shelters for the homeless and dispatch drivers to pick-up locations to transport people to shelters and provide water, food, clothing, and comfort items. Trips also involve checking on homeless in parks, underpasses, locations where they congregate and provide comfort items and warm clothing to individuals who refuse shelter. Drivers look out for persons exhibiting signs of mental illness to ensure that they are properly clothed.

UPO’s mission is Uniting People with Opportunities. As the designated community action agency for DC, UPO services DC homeless through our programs. The Office of Early Learning provides children of homeless families with free education and family support. Adult Education & Training, Building Careers Academy and Workforce Development provide job training. As we help the homeless to self-sufficiency, we believe that they deserve the decency of basic comfort items that we can take for granted.

Thanks again for your past support and thank you for your renewed support as we enter the holiday season. On behalf of UPO we wish you Happy Holidays.

• 2015 Point-in-Time Count of Homeless Persons in DC (PDF)