Formerly Berkeley Food & Housing Project
Say YES to homeless services in your community
Thank you to all who have supported the work that Berkeley Food & Housing Project is doing to ease and end the crisis of homelessness. In Berkeley, over the last fiscal year, we have been able to serve 982 homeless people and of these, 174 have moved into permanent housing. In addition we have 97 people under our care at our residential programs. We are working with each one of them to create a plan to help them move from a life on the streets into permanent housing and stability.
I’d like to tell you about “Gary.” Gary is a homeless Army veteran, born and raised in Berkeley. After nearly a year of living on the streets, Gary entered our Veteran’s Transitional Housing Program and was assigned a case manager who helped him begin to address the substance abuse issues that had led to his homelessness.
“It was great to get off the streets. The staff are very friendly. I started recovery, stopped drinking, and started exercising again.“
Gary’s case manager also thought he would be a good candidate for our Peer Outreach Internship Program. The interns gain valuable job and life skills while working to make contact with other homeless veterans. Gary is already finding the internship rewarding.
It’s great to go out and work with vets, because I’m a vet and I’ve been homeless too. A typical problem out there is alcohol and drugs, so it’s really good to be able to get out and talk to them, and identify with them, because maybe I can help them.
Gary is looking forward to graduating from the internship program and moving into his own place. He hopes to become a substance abuse counselor so that he can continue to help those who are going through what he did.
Will you help us meet our goal and continue to serve more people like Gary? Please make a tax deductible donation before our fiscal year ends on June 30th.
With gratitude,
Terrie Light
Executive Director
Berkeley Food & Housing Project