Volunteer Community Outreach
The trained Volunteer Outreach Team goes into the community in our SCS van to build relationships, trust and support. This is a crucial piece of our work intended to increase the possibility that unsheltered neighbors will access needed resources and services to move off of the street. In the past year, four teams of trained community volunteers had more than 1150 street engagements with our unsheltered neighbors.
For many years, John lived on a nearby street corner where he was ridiculed, harassed, assaulted, judged and looked past. His mental illness and addictions made him an easy target. Our Volunteer Community Outreach Team often stopped by with fresh clothing, snacks and hygiene items – always letting him know that there was help when he was ready. But he wasn’t – until he was! Our housing navigator from PATH was finally able to help John walk through the convoluted system and he moved into his apartment and has begun his healing process.