Sometimes it’s difficult to make positive change. Oftentimes, love, respect, understanding, and encouragement are enough to effect the kind of changes people need to make in order to start heading in the right direction. When we find someone who has made those changes, we don’t want a lack of funding to keep them from achieving our mutual goals. By choosing to support the general fund, supporting all initiatives, you’re helping to ensure the specific initiatives won’t fall short. This part is obvious.

Beyond that, this is also a bridge-gap between people. What a lot of folks don’t realize, is that you can’t just walk up to a group of people, who appear to be homeless, and start chatting with them as if it were a schoolyard or business luncheon. We’re strangers walking into their established territories. As you know, the majority are users, and strangers aren’t trusted. A common tool to help alleviate the distrust is a bottle of water. Church groups and concerned neighbors do occasionally bring coolers of cold water and snacks to give out, and approaching in such a manner gives our associates a foot in the door. It also helps them see, eye-to-eye, who’s there. Henry and Molly were discovered among a group of people in a park, and if not for the simple gesture of offering cold water and club crackers, we might not have slipped past the “protectors” in the group to find them.

It may seem insignificant, but something as simple as a stick of beef can turn into the key that unlocks someone’s future. In a way, this general fund is what gives the other initiatives a foot in the door. No matter which initiatives you choose to help, we thank you wholeheartedly for your support.

If you’re looking for a way to make a more immediate contribution to the effort, you can donate $5 and up, directly to the general fund, in the donation box below.