This week in service Wednesday October 14, 2020

 Sunflower Harbor Homeless Outreach www.sunflowerharbor.org 

New stuff: 

We've raised just over $89 of the $5,000 we need for the bunkhouse project! Keep up the great work! Share the fundraiser! Current layout for the bunkhouse will allow us to have emergency housing for up to 15! We have beds for 5 at the moment. The bunkhouse will have a full kitchen, full bathroom with a shower, and laundry room. We have many things we need for it, but still lack many building materials and appliances.  We would like it built before the weather gets dangerously cold. If you can give toward this project, please do! Winter is coming on us quick! 

Reminders:

Blessings bags. We are currently out of bags and everything that goes into them except toothbrushes. We rarely make a new contact now that we've been active in abilene a while. The way we've been handling it is asking what's needed and having one of our Abilene sunflower ladies deliver it. We're doing a lot of follow up. Checking on people we've placed and those we couldn't.  Followup is sometimes the difference between someone being able to stay in stable housing or homelessness reoccurring.  We use the blessings bags to break the ice and find out what their real needs are. We've given out 11 since last blog, all adjusted for the individual's need.

Placements. We do most placements using direct help from locals. Our Abilene Sunflower Ladies are great at networking. They find placement for the individuals we come in contact with. We can not place everyone, but Abilene has an excellent network designed to help the homeless, so those we can help are easier to help and we've been able to help many more than I ever imagined this year! 1 placement has been made since last blog. One of our biggest hurdles for placements is down-payment + first month's rent which not everyone qualifies for help with. Once we have other projects handled financially, We'll be setting up a fund for this. Look for it sometime in 2021. 

Job search fund. Our job search fund helps with clothes, and identification needed to land a job.  Job search fund can always use help. Its our most used service. Many times, we can get locals to directly pay for these things, but not always. The fund is set up as a loan, but not everyone who uses it pays back, so it does need a boost from time to time. 

Www.antonrogers.com is still running fundraisers for blessings packs for us. T-shirts, bookmark, totes, bags and more are on sale there and all procedes from the Sunflower Harbor tab go to buying supplies for blessings packs! 

We still have tickets for Halloween! All overnight rooms are taken, but we look forward to seeing y'all at the party Halloween night! Tickets are $10 and can be paid for through our PayPal (please leave a note thats what the money is for) or can be bought under the Sunflower Harbor tab at www.antonrogers.com 

Procedes from Halloween tickets are earmarked for the bunkhouse project. 

Cash App: $Sunflowerharbor

SUNFLOWER HARBOR HOMELESS OUTREACH 

www.sunflowerharbor.org 

2020 Highlights

Updated At The End Of Each Month

42 Direct Placements
8 New Jobs Obtained!
1 Veteran Graduated!
6 Graduates From Homelessness To Stable Housing!
7 Temporary Residents
4 IDs Obtained For Individuals
2 Veterans Helped With Applying For Benefits
309 Blessings Packs Of Supplies Given Out
15 Blankets

This week in service October 7, 2020

Sunflower Harbor Homeless Outreach www.sunflowerharbor.org 

 Reminders: board meeting November 1, 2020 via text. If you'd like to be a board member, contact kristy@sunflowerharbor.org before October 23. You can help shape the direction of Sunflower Harbor homeless outreach! 

Dues are also due before November 1, 2020 for 2021. 

This week, we have been concentraiting our efforts on fundraising. Several projects need attention. 

Bunkhouse. Our bunkhouse estimate to turn an existing structure into housing is $5,000. We have raised less than 100 this week. Current layout for the bunkhouse will allow us to have emergency housing for up to 15! We have beds for 5 at the moment. The bunkhouse will have a full kitchen, full bathroom with a shower, and laundry room. We have many things we need for it, but still lack many building materials and appliances.  We would like it built before the weather gets dangerously cold. If you can give toward this project, please do! Winter is coming on us quick! 

We have looked into tiny homes and while we would like to build some in the future, we've opted to put this project on the back burner for cheaper options such as the bunk house which will serve more. Also on the back burner is fixing the 2nd house on property due to the cost involved vs how many people it will allow us to help. Still fixing one thing at a time in the 2nd house as we can out of our own pocket, but Sunflower Harbor money can be better spent on other projects at the moment. 

Blessings bags. We are currently out of bags and everything that goes into them except toothbrushes. We rarely make a new contact now that we've been active in abilene a while. The way we've been handling it is asking what's needed and having one of our Abilene sunflower ladies deliver it. We're doing a lot of follow up. Checking on people we've placed and those we couldn't.  Followup is sometimes the difference between someone being able to stay in stable housing or homelessness reoccurring.  We use the blessings bags to break the ice and find out what their real needs are. We've given out 7 since last blog, all adjusted for the individual's need.

Placements. We do most placements using direct help from locals. Our Abilene Sunflower Ladies are great at networking. They find placement for the individuals we come in contact with. We can not place everyone, but Abilene has an excellent network designed to help the homeless, so those we can help are easier to help and we've been able to help many more than I ever imagined this year! 1 placement has been made since last blog. One of our biggest hurdles for placements is down-payment + first month's rent which not everyone qualifies for help with. Once we have other projects handled financially, We'll be setting up a fund for this. Look for it sometime in 2021. 

One of the sweet ladies we helped out of homelessness while still in Dallas just bought a house! So proud of how far she has come! 

Job search fund. Our job search fund helps with clothes, and identification needed to land a job.  Job search fund can always use help. Its our most used service. Many times, we can get locals to directly pay for these things, but not always. The fund is set up as a loan, but not everyone who uses it pays back, so it does need a boost from time to time. 

Www.antonrogers.com is still running fundraisers for blessings packs for us. T-shirts, bookmark, totes, bags and more are on sale there and all procedes from the Sunflower Harbor tab go to buying supplies for blessings packs! 

We still have tickets for Halloween! All overnight rooms are taken, but we look forward to seeing y'all at the party Halloween night! Tickets are $10 and can be paid for through our PayPal (please leave a note thats what the money is for) or can be bought under the Sunflower Harbor tab at www.antonrogers.com 

Procedes from Halloween tickets are earmarked for the bunkhouse project. 

Cash App: $Sunflowerharbor

SUNFLOWER HARBOR HOMELESS OUTREACH 

www.sunflowerharbor.org 

2020 Highlights
As of August 30, 2020
38 Direct Placements
8 New Jobs Obtained!
1 Veteran Graduated!
6 Graduates From Homelessness To Stable Housing!
7 Temporary Residents
4 IDs Obtained For Individuals
2 Veterans Helped With Applying For Benefits
282 Blessings Packs Of Supplies Given Out

This week in service September 23, 2020

 Sunflower Harbor Homeless outreach www.sunflowerharbor.org 

Spent a lot of time this week on estimates and blue prints for the bunk house.  Fundraising goal for the bunkhouse is $5,000. As of today,  we've raised $5. Not bad for officially starting the campaign tonight! 

Www.antonrogers.com is still running fundraisers for blessings packs for us. T-shirts, bookmark, totes, bags and more are on sale there and all procedes from the Sunflower Harbor tab go to buying supplies for blessings packs! 

This week in Abilene, we have placed 2 people in housing and given out 17 blessings packs. We could do so much more, but we run out of supplies quickly and have no funds. 

We applied for tax ID # so we will be able to get a soliciting permit. 

We set up PayPal to make it easier to donate! 

We've had a lot of volunteers this week! In addition to our Abilene Ladies, several of their husbands and children have joined in helping with blessings packs. Robert Kirkpatrick,  II came out and helped for over a week. Larry, Carol, and Dalton were a huge help over the weekend! 

We still have tickets for Halloween! All overnight rooms are taken, but we look forward to seeing y'all at the party Halloween night! Tickets are $10 and can be paid for through our PayPal (please leave a note thats what the money is for) or can be bought under the Sunflower Harbor tab at www.antonrogers.com 

Cash App: $Sunflowerharbor

SUNFLOWER HARBOR HOMELESS OUTREACH 

www.sunflowerharbor.org 

2020 Highlights
As of August 30, 2020
38 Direct Placements
8 New Jobs Obtained!
1 Veteran Graduated!
6 Graduates From Homelessness To Stable Housing!
7 Temporary Residents
4 IDs Obtained For Individuals
2 Veterans Helped With Applying For Benefits
282 Blessings Packs Of Supplies Given Out

This week in service September 10, 2020

This week, we concentraited on placements. These involve a lot of driving around and paperwork. It is cooler out here in west Texas. 51 degrees for the last couple days and rainy. We've given out the last of our blanket stash and all of the comfort items we had on hand. 

We had a small incident with a homeless vet we were helping. He had a ptsd flashback and slightly injured one of the volunteers. Everyone's ok, though and the vet is in VA housing now. We've helped him get emergency foodstamps and are checking on him frequently to make sure the placement sticks.  

The other placement we did this week went a bit smoother. We are learning with each one and getting faster gathering all the items in the paperwork treasure hunts. 

None of what we do could be done without all our amazing volunteers! We grow as our network of amazing volunteers and patrons grows and we are so thankful for each and every one of you!

Most of our in house projects have been put on hold due to covid and funding issues, but our outreach is helping so many! I am using this downtime to rework the in-house program to better fit everyone's needs. 

Current fundraisers are earmarked for blessing pack supplies, filing for nonprofit status, upgrading dorms,  and our first tiny home. 

Don't forget www.antonrogers.com extended a fundraiser for us until the end of October! Advocate shirts, bags, and stickers now available!

Cash App: $Sunflowerharbor

SUNFLOWER HARBOR HOMELESS OUTREACH 

www.sunflowerharbor.org 

2020 Highlights
As of August 30, 2020
38 Direct Placements
8 New Jobs Obtained!
1 Veteran Graduated!
6 Graduates From Homelessness To Stable Housing!
7 Temporary Residents
4 IDs Obtained For Individuals
2 Veterans Helped With Applying For Benefits
282 Blessings Packs Of Supplies Given Out

This week in service September 2, 2020

 Paperwork mostly for us this week. Working hard to finish all the paperwork that has to be filed to get our nonprofit status as well as fundraising to afford it. 

Waiting on shipments of supplies for the blessings bags. 

Our last in house veteran has graduated to stable housing! 

In house, We'll use the next few months to upgrade the dorm and begin building our future dorms, which will be tiny houses.   

In outreach, we'll continue to make contacts and network to help those in need we meet. 

Robert Kirkpatrick II and Jennifer came by this week. Lended a much needed hand. 

We are out of most supplies. Waiting for shipments for some things and funding for others. Several of our shipments have been delayed. If you would like to ship us supplies for blessings packs, please do! 

Things we're running low on:

Tote bags

Zip lock bags

hand sanitizer

masks, 

travel toothbrush and toothpaste packs

floss

granola bars

water

Cheese crackers

Roll on deodorant

sanitary wipes

bath wipes

socks 

underwear

rain Pancho

dry shampoo

nail sets

washcloths

Canned goods

Individually wrapped spoons

None of what we do could be done without all our amazing volunteers! We grow as our network of amazing volunteers and patrons grows and we are so thankful for each and every one of you!

Most of our in house projects have been put on hold due to covid and funding issues, but our outreach is helping so many! I am using this downtime to rework the in-house program to better fit everyone's needs. 

Current fundraisers are earmarked for blessing pack supplies, filing for nonprofit status, upgrading dorms,  and our first tiny home. 

Don't forget www.antonrogers.com extended a fundraiser for us until the end of September! Advocate shirts, bags, and stickers now available!

Cash App: $Sunflowerharbor

SUNFLOWER HARBOR HOMELESS OUTREACH 

www.sunflowerharbor.org 

2020 Highlights
As of August 30, 2020
38 Direct Placements
8 New Jobs Obtained!
1 Veteran Graduated!
6 Graduates From Homelessness To Stable Housing!
7 Temporary Residents
4 IDs Obtained For Individuals
2 Veterans Helped With Applying For Benefits
282 Blessings Packs Of Supplies Given Out

2020 Highlights

This week in service August 26, 2020

 August has come to an end for Sunflower Harbor Homeless outreach. It has been a banner month! Most of our contacts this week were followups. Our teams continue to go above and beyond to help the homeless folks we serve. 

We've  given out 203 blessings packs in August alone!

We have helped in the placement of 13 individuals in housing this month! 

We are out of most supplies. Waiting for shipments for some things and funding for others. Several of our shipments have been delayed. If you would like to ship us supplies for blessings packs, please do! 

Things we're running low on:

Tote bags

Zip lock bags

hand sanitizer

masks, 

travel toothbrush and toothpaste packs

floss

granola bars

water

Cheese crackers

Roll on deodorant

sanitary wipes

bath wipes

socks 

underwear

rain Pancho

dry shampoo

nail sets

washcloths

Canned goods

Individually wrapped spoons

None of what we do could be done without all our amazing volunteers! We grow as our network of amazing volunteers and patrons grows and we are so thankful for each and every one of you!

Most of our in house projects have been put on hold due to covid and funding issues, but our outreach is helping so many! I am using this downtime to rework the in-house program to better fit everyone's needs. 

Current fundraisers are earmarked for lunches and our first tiny home. 

Don't forget www.antonrogers.com is running a fundraiser for us until the end of August! Advocate shirts, bags, and stickers now available!

Cash App: $Sunflowerharbor

SUNFLOWER HARBOR HOMELESS OUTREACH 

www.sunflowerharbor.org 

2020 totals as of the end of July

22 Direct Placements
7 New Jobs Obtained!
1 Veteran Graduated!
5 Graduates From Homelessness To Stable Housing!
7 Temporary Residents
4 IDs Obtained For Individuals
2 Veterans Helped With Applying For Benefits
77 Backpacks Of Supplies Given Out

This week in service August 19, 2020

 This week at Sunflower Harbor homeless outreach: 55 comfort packs were given out, bringing our current total for the month of August to 131! Most of these are prepped by our Abiline ladies. They've been doing an amazing job! 

One of the vets we have been working with got his ID yesterday and immediately went and got a job! 

3 new direct placements

In Dallas, We have a new volunteer who has experience in similar things and is going to school to learn nonprofit finances, management,  volunteer management, grant writing, and more! We look forward to working with her! 

None of what we do could be done without all our amazing volunteers! We grow as our network of amazing volunteers and patrons grows and we are so thankful for each and every one of you!

Most of our in house projects have been put on hold due to covid and funding issues, but our outreach is helping so many! I am using this downtime to rework the in-house program to better fit everyone's needs. 

Current fundraisers are earmarked for lunches and our first tiny home. 

Don't forget www.antonrogers.com is running a fundraiser for us! Advocate shirts, bags, and stickers now available!

Cash App: $Sunflowerharbor

SUNFLOWER HARBOR HOMELESS OUTREACH 

www.sunflowerharbor.org 

2020 totals as of the end of July

22 Direct Placements
7 New Jobs Obtained!
1 Veteran Graduated!
5 Graduates From Homelessness To Stable Housing!
7 Temporary Residents
4 IDs Obtained For Individuals
2 Veterans Helped With Applying For Benefits
77 Backpacks Of Supplies Given Out