NEOCH Membership Starts This Week
We Need Your Support for 2016! Auction for Members Announced for December
Over the last year, NEOCH has accepted the responsibility of distributing donations as part of the SocksPlus Campaign giving out $72,000 in donations this last year. It is with your help from your membership that we can provide these resources. We are beginning our 2016 Membership campaign and hope that you will renew your annual support for NEOCH. Your membership support helps us to coordinate outreach, market the affordable housing website and assist with the Homeless Stand Down. For a $100 donation as part of your membership we can purchase a backpack with winter boots, a hoodie, long underwear, socks and a hygiene kit to keep people safe. With a strong membership we can continue to support our advocacy and public policy work, and will help us to amplify the voice of those without housing.
We are still working on advocacy and public policy recommendations to reduce homelessness in Greater Cleveland. We are still working to improve the shelters and the conditions when the increasing number of families show up asking for help. We still publish an updated Homeless Street Card and host the annual Homeless Memorial Day. We have a regularly updated website packed full of information, and we schedule speakers for the affordable housing meeting while also conducting trainings of homeless service staff and volunteers. We also continue to publish a Homeless Street Newspaper called the Street Chronicle that provides a steady job to 15 vendors. NEOCH continues to send trained speakers to schools and religious groups to dispel some of the negative myths about homeless people. New in 2015, we have an outreach trainee on site who assists people resistant to shelter and we distribute huge numbers of donated winter and rain gear to keep our friends safe.
The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) is dedicated to the belief that through community action we have the power to change the institutions, policies and attitudes that create homelessness. NEOCH believes that in the process of making change, we also build a community of access and opportunity. When you contribute to NEOCH, you don’t just support the organization and its vital programs, but you support a mission to reduce the number who become homeless and decrease the time a family must spend without housing to days not months.
With your membership, you can login to our website and view the special content in the member section including our member only blog and member deal of the month. If you make a donation during our membership drive in December, you can be entered in our special auction for members. For any $50 donation by December 31, 2015, your name will be entered into an auction in January for a chance to win one of the gift certificates or tickets donated by local businesses and arts organizations. We have a Brown’s autographed football, or 4 tickets to the Botanical Garden, or 2 tickets to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, or 2 tickets to the Cleveland Orchestra, or the Lake Erie Monsters hockey tickets or finally 2 tickets to the Beck Center. For more information check out our Member Auction on our website under Member Deal of the Month. You can make a donation right from our website by clicking the “Donate Now” button.
Some other updates:
- The 15th Annual Woodchoppers Ball is at the Kent Stage on December 12 at 7 p.m. and all the proceeds benefit NEOCH.
- The Homeless Memorial Day is December 21, 2015 at 5 p.m. at St. Malachi. All are welcome to attend.
- We are currently collecting donations as part of our SocksPlus blanket and cold weather campaign. There is a flyer on our website that you can print out and distribute to get your workplace to do a collection drive.
We ask that you renew or become a new member of NEOCH today. NEOCH needs your support this year because of the increase in family homelessness over the last three years and the number of couples and pregnant women we are finding living outside. We are working with religious groups and social service providers to meet this large increase in request for shelter by parents and their children! Your donation makes it possible for NEOCH to extend a hand up to those living in shelter or on the street. We can keep you informed about issues and updates related to homelessness with our Bridge Support newsletter available by e-mail or on our website. Just contact NEOCH staff if you want to be on our e-mail list.
Brian Davis
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