By Mervyn Myers | Development Director
After a late winter snow storm in mid-March, Little by Little we are being blessed with warmer spring weather in DC and the cherry blossoms have bloomed (see PDF below). As always UPO’s Shelter Hotline has been kept busy helping the DC Homeless reach shelter during the late winter Hypothermia Alerts and we are now gearing up for the sweltering summer months, responding to the Hyperthermia Alerts and transporting the DC Homeless to cooling stations.
Thank you, dear loyal friends, for your generous support of our Help UPO Help the DC Homeless project to date. We have now received 214 donations raising a total of $14,167 towards our goal of $20,000 and your support is urgently needed to provide much needed funding of comfort items for the DC Homeless during the searing summer months ahead.
GlobalGiving is providing us with a great opportunity to accelerate the funds we raise; from Monday April 3rd at 9:00am through Friday April 7th GlobalGiving will match donations up to $50 at 50%, with $50,000 in matching funds available. This is our week to celebrate the power of the crowd and demonstrate that small donations add up to BIG change!
And that’s not all! Global Giving will also match all new recurring donations up to $200 at 200%. And all organizations raising funds during the campaign are eligible to compete for $3,000 in bonus prizes!
So please take a moment to renew your support of Help UPO Help the DC Homeless Little by Little during the Matching Campaign!
And these are the reasons why your support remains so vital!
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 2016 Point-in-Time Count of Homeless Persons in DC (see PDF below) found that there were 8,350 homeless people in Washington DC on a single night. Unfortunately this is an increase of 14.4% over the 2015 Count of 7,298.
Winter and summer over 40 dedicated UPO Shelter Hotline employees communicate with shelters to coordinate transportation services for recently displaced individuals and families. We are the sole provider of transportation services for the DC homeless population. Last year we provided 155,476 rides. Our vans are seen throughout the District distributing blankets, sleeping bags and other comfort items, funded by your donations, to the homeless. During peak seasonal temperatures Shelter Hotline drivers work 24 hours a day during the winter and summer months transporting individuals to shelters, cooling stations and feeding centers. We’re here to help and save lives.
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 free 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.
We are truly grateful for your past support. We are counting on your continued financial assistance!
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