Home. It’s something we spend a lot of time thinking about and fixing up. It’s where we care for our kids, enjoy life, and spend most of our time.
And we know we are lucky to have ‘home.’ Especially when the weather gets colder, it’s hard to forget that not everyone has a house to call home.
That’s why I fell for a little paragraph in Pottery Barn’s recent catalog that announced their partnership with shelters across the country for the Give a Little Hope campaign.
Pottery Barn is donating proceeds from a select few luxurious throws and a Peace and Love ornament to help provide temporary and long-term housing through local shelters around the country.
I already loved the Chenille Throw in blue smoke, but now I’m definitely adding it to my wish list. Thank you, Pottery Barn.
Vogel Alcove Childcare Center for the Homeless (Dallas)
Since its inception in 1987, the Vogel Alcove has cared for approximately 12,500 homeless children, ages 6 weeks to 5 years, by providing early childhood education and developmental services; play and speech therapy; basic medical and dental care; nutritious meals; formula; and diapers––at no cost to families in 18 local emergency and domestic violence programs. The mission of the Vogel Alcove is to provide the youngest children of homeless families with the foundation for success. It is our vision that every child in our community has a home, a self–sufficient family, and a pathway to success in school.
The Family Place (Dallas)
The mission of The Family Place is to eliminate family violence through intervention and proactive prevention, extensive community education, advocacy and assistance for victims and their families. For victims of family violence, The Family Place is the Dallas area’s leading organization delivering proven programs that address emotional and physical abuse and incest. The Family Place provides free, comprehensive services that prevent violence and fully support women, children and men on their path from fear to safety.
Women In Need (New York)
Women In Need provides housing, help and hope to New York City women and their families who are homeless and disadvantaged. Through comprehensive programs such as shelter, supportive permanent housing, job training, domestic violence services, alcohol and substance abuse treatment and childcare, WIN offers the tools and guidance which allow our families to return to their communities and live independently.
Atlanta Children’s Shelter, Inc. (Atlanta)
Atlanta Children’s Shelter provides high–quality early childcare and comprehensive services for homeless families striving for self–sufficiency. Since 1986, ACS has cared for nearly 8,000 children and provided services for more than 5,000 families. Services include NAEYC–accredited early childcare, case management and counseling, life skills workshops, employment services, housing resettlement and aftercare mentorship. All services are provided free of charge to the families they serve.
Horizons for Homeless Children (Boston)
The mission of Horizons for Homeless Children is to improve the lives of homeless children and their families. It provides homeless children in Massachusetts with the nurturing, stimulation and opportunities for early education and play that all children need to learn and grow in healthy ways. To improve the lives of the children it serves over the long term, it connects their parents with the tools they need to achieve social and economic self–sufficiency. It provides leadership in advocating for homeless children and their families through leveraging and sharing expertise with others and advocating with policy makers and the public.
Hamilton Family Center (San Francisco)
The Mission of Hamilton Family Center is to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. Through a housing first approach, they provide a continuum of housing solutions and comprehensive services that promote self–sufficiency for families and individuals, and foster the potential of children and youth.
Compass Community Services (San Francisco)
Compass Family Services is a non–profit organization that has been serving San Franciscans in need since 1914. The agency has specifically focused on serving homeless families with children since the City’s homeless population exploded in the late 1980s. Their mission is to help families break their cycle of poverty and crisis through targeted interventions and an array of support services. Compass’ six programs help clients locate housing, secure employment, and raise healthy children.
Larkin Street Youth Services (San Francisco)
Larkin Street Youth Services’ mission is to create a continuum of services that inspires youth to move beyond the streets. Larkin Street Youth Services nurture potential, promote dignity, and support bold steps by all. Founded in 1984, San Francisco’s Larkin Street Youth Services is an internationally recognized leader providing innovative, effective housing, medical, social and educational services to at–risk, homeless and runaway youth ages 12–24 across 25 programs and 13 sites. Eighty percent of youth who complete Larkin Street’s comprehensive programs exit street life.
Transition House (Santa Barbara)
Transition House is dedicated to the solution of family homelessness in the Santa Barbara community. Capable and motivated families with children are offered respectful, non–sectarian residential services and the life skills needed to alleviate their poverty, and to restore self–sufficiency and dignity. Founded in 1984, Transition House helps families develop the tools and sound decision–making practices needed to find work, save money, secure permanent housing, and end the cycle of poverty–based family homelessness.
Jenesse Center (South Los Angeles)
Jenesse Center, Inc. is the oldest domestic violence intervention program in South Los Angeles. The Center was founded in 1980 by five African American women who were survivors of domestic violence. Jenesse Center’s mission is to provide victims of domestic violence with a comprehensive, centralized base of support to assist them in addressing their immediate crisis and changing the patterns of their lives.
Women’s Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)
Founded in 1974, The Women’s Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh (WC&S) was one of the first six shelters in the United States for battered women. Since that time, WC&S has focused on creating and implementing innovative and effective programming aimed at preventing domestic violence and providing services to domestic violence victims. The mission of Women’s Center and Shelter is to end intimate partner violence in the lives of women and their children.
Brand New Beginnings (Chicago)
Brand New Beginnings’ mission is to assist families toward economic independence. Founded in 1994, Brand New Beginnings offers transitional housing for women with children and works to empower low–income residents of Washington Park and the surrounding neighborhoods to live with a greater sense of safety, dignity, pride and self–respect.
