‘Homeless Connect’ takes community needs to heart

WASILLA — Hundreds of homeless children, families, veterans and other individuals may be able to take the first step toward a better life this week with one visit to the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center.

Around 50 agencies and businesses are expected to arrive there Wednesday morning in preparation for the fifth annual Mat-Su Project Homeless Connect, part of a national program to end homelessness.

“The premise of this whole thing is a one-stop, one-day connection of people in need to organizations and agencies that can meet those needs,” said Dave Rose, Coordinator for the Mat-Su Coalition on Housing and Homelessness.

Rose said last year’s event served close to 200 people with 2,000 pounds of food, 2,000 pounds of clothing, and 150 free lunches.

Tomorrow, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., homeless and disadvantaged attendees will have access to haircuts, veterans’ services, Social Security benefits, foot washing, housing assistance and rental lists, pastoral care, homeless shelters, pet shelter, domestic violence assistance, regular medical checkups, mental health assessments, substance abuse treatment, employment opportunities, child care and more.

“We have so many vendors that offer everything they could need,” said Beth Westland, Care Coordinator at Mat-Su Senior Services.

Laurie Kari of Family Promise Mat-Su said she came to the local Homeless Connect from the Anchorage event, where she used to volunteer. She and Rose both noticed how effective the project was and decided to bring it to the Valley, where it has become less compartmentalized and now has “more of a state fair feel.”

In addition to the senior center and the Mat-Su Coalition, the Mat-Su Health Foundation, United Way of Mat-Su, Valley Residential Services, city of Wasilla, Valley Charities (which includes eight local organizations) and hundreds of volunteers will be represented and available at the event in one area, so attendees are free to roam.

Amy Dorsey, one of four “quad-chairs” of the local Homeless Connect, also directs the Mat-Su Borough School District’s Families in Transition Program.

While she sees many students assisted directly through FIT, a number of them also make connections at the annual community event in the last hour.

“Our goal is to keep kids in school,” Dorsey said, “so anything that makes that less of a burden we try to do.”

According to Dorsey, 649 students in the district are currently homeless — meaning they live in substandard housing or are “couch surfing,” for the most part.

Only 35 percent of those students are of high school age, meaning the majority are young children in homeless families.

These numbers also are important for another part of the event. In years past, Project Homeless Connect has been designed to coincide with the “point-in-time” count by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which determines the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons on a single night in January with a specialized survey.

Out of 184 survey participants at the connection last year, 110 households were represented, 70 with children, and three identified as youth. In response to a question regarding where they slept the night before, 18 said they were unsheltered, 48 said they rented, 24 owned a home, 28 were doubled up with friends and 37 doubled up with family members — living in homes not meant to hold two or more families — according to a Mat-Su Coalition document.

Nationwide, at least, circumstances seem to be improving through homelessness prevention programs and events like Homeless Connect, however.

A press release issued by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development yesterday reported that communities around the country saw a 10 percent decline in the total number of people experiencing homelessness and a 25 percent drop in the number of those living on the streets in 2014. Point-in-time counts also revealed a 33 percent decrease in homelessness among veterans and a 43 percent reduction in unsheltered homelessness among veterans.

Apparently, though, there is still work to be done. According to the release, HUD just awarded more than $3.6 million to 28 homeless housing and service projects across the state of Alaska. Of those 28 projects, two are sponsored by Wasilla organizations: Valley Charities, Inc. conducts “Neighbor to Neighbor: A Community Solution to Homelessness” and Valley Residential Services, Inc. will continue work with “Bev’s Place.”

As far as Project Homeless Connect, volunteers are welcome and needed to serve lunches, set up and take down tables in the Menard Center, and man the tables at the Palmer and Wasilla Carrs, where more point-in-time surveys will be available, as well as access to free transportation to the event.

For a reason to volunteer, Palmer Junior Middle School student and 4H member Joile Manier offered some simple advice:

“With people that don’t have much, it’s good to give them something,” she said.

Or in the words of one young volunteer stuffing goodie bags for the event last week, “this is awesome!”

Volunteers are needed as early as 7 a.m. but are welcome throughout the day.

For more information, call 745-5827. For transportation to the event, call 414-5994 on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

Contact Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.

If you go

What: Project Homeless Connect

Where: Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center, Wasilla

When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Why: To end homelessness

Who: Anyone willing to volunteer their services to members of the homeless community and anyone living in substandard housing

How: Just show up — call 414-5994 for transportation, 745-5827 for more information