Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Household Donation Drive by Junk South

Junk South
Junk South is collecting household items to benefit 
the Athens Area Homeless Shelter on Feb. 9th at the Green Life Expo.

Please bring your gently used household items to 
The Classic Center between 9am-4pm on Saturday, Feb. 9th. 
Access is easy, just pull your vehicle around the front of The Classic Center to the Junk South truck and an employee will take your donation. 

All collections will go toward the AAHS Going Home program. 
For more information, please visit: 
http://helpathenshomeless.org/learn/programs/

Items to donate include:

Mattresses
Box springs
Bed frames
Furniture: tables/chairs, couches, lamps, dressers, desks
Kitchen equipment: pots, pans, plates, silverware, microwaves 
& misc. kitchen electronics
Washers & Dryers

Thanks so much to Junk South for providing this donation opportunity! 
Check them out at http://www.junksouth.com/
 

Thursday, December 20, 2012

So what exactly does the shelter do?

Here at AAHS, most of our posts are about community involvement and donations, but we want to make sure you know what our programs actually do for the homeless community. So here it is!


Almost Home

Almost Home is a transitional housing program for homeless women and their children.
The Transitional Shelter Program seeks to decrease barriers to housing stability by providing shelter and case management services to eligible homeless families.
Eligible families receive shelter for up to 24 months while seeking and maintaining employment, education, and training. The Transitional Shelter Program Director works with the family to determine short- and long-term goals that will lead to financial independence.
In 2012 the Almost Home Program provided housing for 20 mothers and 41 children.

How you can help: Be a support system for homeless families.

Volunteer. Many of our families became homeless due to a lack of a community or family support system. Volunteering at AAHS provides you with an opportunity to be that support system for our mothers and their children.
Donate. Your support allows us to keep the lights on, pay utility bills, and purchase food for our families.
Connect. Use the Athens Area Homeless Shelter's online community to inform your social networks about our programs and how you are plugging in.
______________________________________

Going Home

The Going Home rapid rehousing program provides case management support, rental, and utility assistance to families in Athens that are ready for permanent housing.
Going Home provides scaled support over the course of the program, with the clients gradually increasing their own level of responsibility until they are fully independent.
As always, our goal at the shelter is to look below the surface at root issues, working toward sustainable solutions.  Going Home is a huge stride forward in this direction, and we need the community's support more than ever to continue supporting families as they strive for independence.  AAHS is excited to have launched this program in September of 2012.
In 2012, the Going Home Program provided assistance to move 9 families in to permanent, sustainable housing.

How you can help: Help us furnish apartments.

Donate. While the shelter provides financial assistance to move in to apartments, clients have needs such as beds, kitchen supplies, linens and towels, and household toiletries when they move.
Transportation. Clients often are unable to move their belongings into housing without assistance from the community. If you have a truck or large vehicle, be on our call list for transportation needs.
Connect. Use the Athens Area Homeless Shelter's online community to inform your social networks about our programs and how you are plugging in
_______________________________________

JobTREC: Job Training, Referral, Education, Case Management

The JobTREC program seeks to decrease barriers to housing stability by providing case management services to eligible homeless individuals. Our clients are required to participate in a comprehensive intake process. Once the intake process is completed, our case managers work closely with each client to evaluate specific needs and to develop short- and long-term goals.

Did you know?

Homeless job seekers in Athens are also mothers and fathers; many are veterans; most are educated and desire to continue their educations. While JobTREC clients can come from different life experiences and although they face homelessness for a variety of reasons, they all have one thing in common: they want to work.
  • 64% of low-income and homeless families in Athens have at least one adult in the workforce.
  • 50% of hours worked at a full-time job at minimum wage will be devoted to pay rent.
  • 100% of hours worked at a part-time job at minimum wage will be devoted to pay rent.
In 2012 the JobTREC program provided comprehensive case management services to over 180 individuals in the Athens Community.

How you can help: Make Athens Work.

JobTREC staff provide a number of critical services to our clients. With your support, we can do so much more.
Job Training. Partner with us to provide our clients with job training opportunities. Host a workshop and share your expertise with us. Our clients are eager to learn valuable job skills.
Interview Skills Training. Partner with us to provide our clients with mock interview opportunities. What do you look for in a potential employee? what are the best questions to ask during an interview in your profession? You and your staff can teach our clients a wealth of knowledge in even one short mock interview setting.
Job Placement. Our clients are ready to learn how to become a part of your company. Let us know what you are looking for in a potential employee. We can refer clients to you who are suited for employment within your organization.


Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Holiday Gift Card Drive

seal3.jpg
Holiday Gift Cards

This holiday season consider supporting our residents by providing gift cards to Wal-Mart and Target for our moms to use to shop for their own families.

We believe it is valuable to allow each of our moms to personalize their family's Christmas and have a hand in picking out and wrapping presents.

Gift cards are great in any amount- from $5 to $500! Please donate gift cards by December 17th so that we have enough time to organize our shopping trip. You can also donate through our website and GA Gives page, specifying your donation is for our gift card drive, or by sending a check.
georgia gives day

MAKE A DONATION ONLINE

Choose an amount, or give whatever you can!
$10
$25
$50
$100

$ Other :
Make this donation:



Friday, December 7, 2012

Wooten Woopets Puppet Show at AAHS!

Thanks so much to Wooten Woopets for the puppet show they brought to the shelter! The kids (and moms!) had an amazing time and we love having the community come in and spend time with us!

Check out some of the memories from the night!


















Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Look past the holidays for volunteer opportunities

Check out this Athens Banner Herald article about Athens Area Homeless Shelter!

original article: http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-11-19/look-past-holidays-volunteer-opportunities

Monday, Nov. 19, 2012

Look past the holidays for volunteer opportunities

nick.coltrain@onlineathens.com
OnlineAthens/Athens Banner-Herald
Thanos Skouteris, a senior member of Alpha Kappa Psi, talks with a child while he eats at Athens Area Homeless Shelter in Athens, Ga., Thu., Nov. 15, 2012. (AJ Reynolds/Staff)

About 10 members of the University of Georgia business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi carved out time from their schedules last week to give a gift that in many ways is the most basic for humans: the gift of sustenance.

They, like dozens of others will and have throughout the holidays, went to the Athens Area Homeless Shelter to prepare a meal for the mothers and children there who needed to take up residence as a respite from hard times.
“Me and the whole fraternity believe that it is good to give back, especially to the community in which you live,” said the co-ed organization’s community service chair, Elise Diehl.
Holiday volunteers are in no short supply at the Athens Area Homeless Shelter. In fact, if you wanted to spend a night or two helping to prepare food or baby-sit, they ask that you keep an eye on the post-holiday season.
Dinnertime volunteer opportunities there already are filled for November and December, but January and February show more holes than not. And not having volunteers, shelter Director Katie Smith said, makes it harder for the residents to get dinner.
“We still have to feed our residents every day of the year, regardless of if we have volunteers,” she said.
The shelter usually has about six mothers and 15 children living there who otherwise would be homeless, Smith said, and they need dinner every day of the year. It is particularly hard to find people to prepare dinner for the residents in January and early summer, as many UGA students have emptied out of Athens by then, Smith said.
“There’s a lot of places that have a holiday blitz, so we just want to ask that people keep us in mind year-round,” Smith said.
Not to say that the shelter doesn’t need any help between November and the New Year.
It is entering into its third year of a holiday donation drive, where it asks for gift cards instead of toys and other presents, which allows the mothers to buy their family Christmas presents, Smith said.
“It empowers them to do their own Christmas shopping for their families,” she said.
Gift cards to Walmart and Target are in the highest demand, Smith said.
The shelter also is in need of general supplies — toiletry items, such as shampoo and toothpaste, high-efficiency laundry detergent, diapers and the like. Professional clothes and clothes that can be worn to job interviews are also in demand, Smith said.
But if meeting the families in person is more your style, Smith said volunteers can make the experience into whatever they want. Some volunteers will baby-sit while mothers take classes or go to home meetings, building bonds with the children along the way. Others will prepare the food and enjoy it with the families, or merely hang back and clean up. Still more will share special skills in parenting or cooking or professional life with the mothers in classes.
“Our volunteer opportunities can really be anything the groups can want it to be,” Smith said.
• Follow government and business reporter Nick Coltrain at twitter.com/ncoltrain or on Facebook at facebook.com/NickColtrainABH. 



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AAHS is asking for donations of gift cards that will allow our residents to buy personalized gifts for their kids from traditional superstores (e.g., Wal-Mart, Target).

We welcome all gift cards from $5, $10, $100 or more.  If you would like to give, please make your donations by December 14th so that we can have enough time to organize our shopping trip.  We would love to receive gift cards, but if you would rather donate cash or check, we will buy the gift cards with the money you give us.  You can come by the shelter any time (directions below) to drop off your donations any weekday from 10AM to 6PM.  Alternatively, you can make your donation with a credit or debit card on our website (www.helpathenshomeless.org) by clicking on "Give" and following the instructions.
Thank you so much for helping to make Christmas morning a fun and exciting time for the residents of Athens Area Homeless Shelter!

If you're interested in volunteering with Athens Area Homeless Shelter, check our our opportunities at http://helpathenshomeless.org, contact the shelter at 706-354-0423, or email volunteer@helpathenshomeless.org.




Monday, November 12, 2012

Harvest for the Homeless 2012 was a great success!

 
Dear Friends and Family of AAHS, 
 
On behalf of the Board, the staff, the women and children who live at our shelter,
and the families that we serve through our programming --
thank you so very much for the overwhelming support that you showed for this year’s Harvest for the Homeless!
It was our largest and most successful event ever -
a HUGE thank you to all who contributed.
You’ve helped make it possible for AAHS to continue doing our work!
 
-AAHS
 









 

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Georgia Gives Day

Interested in a new way to support Athens Area Homeless Shelter? 
Join us December 6 for Georgia Gives Day!
Agencies across Georgia are participating in a blitz of giving, and Athens Area Homeless Shelter is a part of it!

Donations on Georgia Gives Day will be used to support our 
Holiday Gift Card Program, resident needs, and childcare costs.

georgia gives day

Georgia Gives Day is an opportunity for everyone, in every corner of the state to support the causes that make Georgia great.


MAKE A DONATION

 on our GA Gives Day page at 
Please check out the page and make a donation to help us keep offering our great services!
-AAHS