Hospitality House now has a house band named
Home Free

Home Free performing at the Spirit Center spring fundraiser, June 2010.
If you are interested in finding out more about Home Free and their bookings
please contact Hospitality House during normal business hours.

CLICK HERE to see photos of the 2010 Volunteer Party

Hospitality House Community Shelter Marches for
Affordable Housing
The march was organized by WRAP (Western Regional Advocacy Project)

Read the article in The Union here (2/7/2010).

On Wednesday, 1/20/2010, a group from Hospitality House traveled to San Francisco.

Photo Credit: Tom Durkin

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR'S REPORT

It's hard to imagine we're already through our winter shelter season. The number of nightly guests has quickly grown to 35-40 guests per night. The Welcome Center is alive with activity each day as guests trickle in, often times soaking wet from the series of recent storms. They are welcomed by our awesome lunch bunch and given hot soup, an endless supply of treats and a warm smile.

I love to watch the guests come in from the cold and enjoy their warm meal. It feels just like home until I glance down and see all the wet shoes they are wearing. I realize most of what they own is in a little plastic bin in the next room, and the wet shoes on their feet are the only shoes they own. But fear not, we have some creative thinkers among us. All around good guy and bus steward John Mackey brought in a boot dryer. Now guests can dry their shoes before putting on clean socks.

Since I'm on a shoe kick, have you ever wondered what happens to people that are looking for work, have no car, and no place to be for 5 hours a day? Yep, they walk and walk and walk. I thought my teenage son went through shoes fast, but our guests have him beat hands down. It's not uncommon for them to come in with wet shoes, but it's even more heartbreaking when they have holes in the bottom of those shoes.

On the bright side, our volunteers and supporters are the BEST. If we have someone with a need like this we just put the need out there and shoes appear. Our wonderful board member Joanna Robinson asked for a pair of size 12 boots during her Friday morning KVMR interview and before she was off the air a pair of size 12 boots appeared at the studio. WOW.

Thanks to all of our faithful volunteers and faith communities, we served almost 20,000 meals to our homeless in 2009. What an enormous undertaking and incredible accomplishment for our community. The best part is every single meal was served with a generous spirit and a caring heart, and this was not lost on our guests. I heard a story from a guest a few weeks ago about how this last Thanksgiving with us was the first holiday he'd spend with anyone in 20 years. How amazing it is that as we serve, we are touching people in ways we can't even begin to imagine.

Hospitality House provided shelter to 279 individuals in 2009, which includes 9 children and 32 veterans. We provided 5353 bed nights to our guests and 3420 drop-ins by our former guests. Hospitality House has a policy of continuing to help former guest who have obtained housing by allowing them continued case management, food, and friendship. We believe helping our guests to find housing is only the first step, retaining that housing is vital to their long term success.

We continue to have free weekly medical exams for our guests thanks to Dr. Frank Lang Jr. and Dr. Chirstine Newsome.  This is a wonderful benefit to not only our guests, but our entire community as it relives the need for many of our folks without medical insurance from having to visit the Emergency Room at the hospital.

We also owe our thanks and gratitude to our volunteer nurses, Fred Skeen, Jane Hall, and Lynn Schweissinger for giving even more of their time and skill to provide on-site H1N1 vaccines to our guests. An amazing 26 guests opted to get the vaccine during our first round a few days ago. A special thank you to Jeff Brown, Dr. Millman and staff at our Public Health Department for providing us with the vaccine and materials that allowed us to provide this for our guests at the Welcome Center.

Finally, I'm excited to share the news that because of a recent grant awarded to Hospitality House, we are extending our shelter season. This means we will now be open from September 1 through May 31 for overnight shelter. We learned very quickly that the need for shelter doesn't change even during the warmer summer months. We are moving closer to our goal of year round shelter, but in order to reach that goal and to continue to meet the needs of our homeless, we need your continued support in the form of financial donations, meal donations, time, and every once in a while; shoes.

Cindy Maple, Executive Director, Hospitality House Community Shelter

If you want to make a difference in our community; please consider volunteering with Hospitality House. Leave a voicemail and call back number at 530-271-7144 stating that you wish to attend the next volunteer training session. To make a financial donation please mail a check to Hospitality House, P.O. Box 3223, Grass Valley, CA 95945.

Other Voices: Hospitality House offers much more than just food and shelter
The Union, Saturday, May 8th, 2010

Gil Scott-Heron's new CD with "I'll Take Care of You"
LISTEN HERE

Capital Public Radio's Jeffrey Callison talks with Hospitality House Director Cindy Maple
on the homeless in rural California counties.
Click here to listen (the interview is about 2/3 thorugh the broadcast. You can slide the button to that point).
12/14/2009

Other Voices: Safety, dignity for local homeless
from the pages of The Union Newspaper 11/11/09

Hospitality House Receives $200,000 Federal Grant
($100,000 a year for two years)
from The Union newspaper, 10/15/09
and on Yubanet.com website
and in the Nevada City Advocate