HeartsBlog

We are looking for help with our website and also with our contacts database. Help keep our website up to date and also to publish a quarterly e-newsletter to our volunteers to help keep them up to date with opportunities to serve. Please contact webmaster@hearts4homeless.org if you can help. Thank you!

The Fall Women’s Retreat for InnVision Women’s Program was quite an event this year. It was held in the beautiful, peaceful Santa Cruz Mountains at Redwood Glen, a Retreat Center for many people in the Peninsula Bay Area as well as surrounding areas. Getting to the retreat was quite a task as Loma drove along the long, winding road in the InnVision bus to Loma Mar, Ca. We arrived safely to a dinner which included Tri-Tip Steaks, baked potatoes and freshly home baked bread. This royal retreat was only the beginning of the superb service we received. The camp director, Chad, had upgraded us to a cabin close to all of the amenities in which we had our own private meeting room. After dinner we had a time of introductions. We settled in for the night awaiting the big day, Saturday.

Saturday was a day full of sharing and creating. We shared our stories up to this point in our lives regarding our relationships with God. Then we made “God’s In Boxes” and bookmarks fit for sale. We took a good look at the story of Hagar and learned that God makes a way where there is no way and that even though God doesn’t always deliver us from our circumstances; He does provide resources to help sustain us. We shared our thoughts and feelings about this story and the implications for our lives.

Later Saturday night we had a campfire of which one of the participants worked very hard to start since it had rained the entire night before. Once it was going we all had a great time sharing and looking at the starlit sky. And yes it was a full moon!!

Sunday we had a huge breakfast , we had a closing circle, and then we were off to return to the hustle and bustle of daily life again. The participants were thankful for the time away to center, gain new perspective, and experience the Light of God.

November is almost here and we need volunteers to provide meals for the Hotel de Zink program this November.

Each year in November, Hearts for Homeless at MPPC sponsors the Hotel de Zink program. We provide meals and a place to sleep for 15-20 homeless guests during the month of November. We need volunteers and groups to provide dinners, breakfasts and lunches for our guests.

The simplest way to participate is to provide breakfast on one of the days. You purchase breakfast items and drop them off the night before. You can also sign up to serve the breakfast in the morning.

We also need people to serve as “hosts”, to interact with our guests and make them feel welcome. You would be responsible for one day of the week during November, and need to be present from 7:00-9:00p.m.  During this time, you will mix with the guests and share a meal with them. Groups are also welcome to come by at dinnertime to provide music (piano, guitar, etc) or other entertainment – please let us know beforehand if you would like to do this.

For more information please contact Renee Masterson, 650.323.4439. See also some additional tips on interacting with our guests from last year’s orientation meeting.

What a wonderful success Compassion Weekend was! We made some amazing connections and we believe that God is leading us to continue His work by hosting another event. We’re looking for volunteers to get involved in a scaled down version of the Compassion Weekend picnic.

Date: Saturday, September 15

Time: 11 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Location: Burgess Park, Menlo Park

Capacity is limited to 150 guests and volunteers. We will be promoting the event to the residents of the Opportunity Center, Clara Mateo, the VA Hospital and the homeless community in general.

  Neighbor.com, a local online community, has formed a for-benefit partnership with Menlo Park-based children’s charity My New Red Shoes to help buy clothes for local homeless children for their first day of school.  Through August 31, for every opinion of a local business that people write at Neighbor.com using the code SHOES, Neighbor will donate $1 to My New Red Shoes – up to $10,000.  Here’s just one example of a child for whom My New Red Shoes has made a huge difference: 

“When Travis, a 14-year old homeless boy, landed a summer job last year, he was thrilled to finally be able to save money for new school clothing. But when Travis’s mother lost her job, he had no choice but to turn over his summer savings to keep his family afloat. The day Travis received a $50 gift card from My New Red Shoes, he sat down and began to cry. His dream of arriving at school feeling like “just another kid” was going to come true after all. Travis later told a shelter staff member that he believed the help he received from My New Red shoes was a reward for his selfless dedication to his family.” 

I would like to invite Hearts for Homeless to participate in this campaign by simply sharing news of the initiative with your committee and volunteers.  No monetary donation is requested. You can use part of this email, or I can send you text that you can send on to folks.  This is an excellent opportunity for people to make a difference in the local community without having to write a check or organize a large project.  It has all the elements of local good: local homeless children benefit from what people around them say about local businesses, and in turn, these companies get positive notice. 

1.      Click to go to Neighbor.com. 

2.      Enter the code SHOES. 

3.      Write a review (or two) of local services you’ve used – dentist, doctor, auto-repair person, massage therapist, attorney, preschool, school, manicurist, dry cleaner, favorite café … 

4.      Please share this with friends and colleagues, so they can also participate in this local drive to make a difference to local children. 

We recently received this invitation to volunteer for the South Bay Stand Down event on September 8,9, and 10:

My name is Yoko Galbraith and I am the South Bay Stand Down Volunteer Coordinator at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Menlo Park. The Palo Alto VA Health Care System, Counties and local community organizations are hosting the South Bay Stand Down on September 8th, 9th and 10th at the Boulder Creek Scout Reservation. Stand Down is a multiple day event providing services to homeless veterans. We are anticipating 200 veterans to participate in this event and are asking for volunteers to help create an opportunity for homeless veterans to access available resources and to reduce some of the barriers that have kept them homeless. Volunteers may work single or multiple shifts on Saturday and Sunday (8-12pm, 12-4pm, 4-8pm) and on Monday (7-11am or 10-4pm). We will provide transportation to and from the event site several times per day for volunteers who do not wish to drive themselves. If you are interested in volunteering at the event, or would like more information about Stand Down, please contact me at (650) 493-5000, ext. 22445, or the South Bay Stand Down hotline (650) 804-1794. I will get your name, contact information, the shifts for which you are interested in volunteering, and whether you will need transportation. Thank you for helping homeless veterans and God bless you.

Best regards,

Yoko Galbraith

South Bay Stand Down Volunteer Coordinator

(650) 493-5000 ext. 22445

Hotel de Zink has come to a close for this year at MPPC, and now we are working on ramping up the advocacy program. As in past years, we are always sorry to see our guests go, so the advocacy program is a way to continue to offer support once the guests leave the grounds of MPPC. Couples or small groups meet with a homeless person once a week and offer moral and spiritual support in taking positive steps away from poverty. For more information, come to the meeting on December 13th in the Library at Menlo Park Presbytarian Church.

• Keep an open mind to different perspectives and lifestyles.
• Show compassion and concern through listening.
• “SAFETY FIRST”- be aware, but don’t be threatening.
• Let the guest know that you are there for them through empathy , not sympathy.
• Be careful about what you commit to unless you’re able to follow through with those commitments.
• Don’t divulge personal info. like home address, bank acct., or last names.
• Be aware that homeless people have great difficulties with building trust, so don’t abuse it if you acquire it from them.
• Be aware our guest’s emotional state like addiction to drugs, alcoholism, non-responsiveness, and depression as well as mental illness.
• Don’t give up hope on our homeless guests if your first attempt to connect with them fails, try to build a relationship again.
• Always, treat our guests with respect, kindness and courtesy.
• Don’t try to solve the homeless problems, but give them info. about available resources like a case worker at the new Mid-Peninsula Opportunity Center.
• Always, remember that you may be the first and only witness to God’s amazing love and grace, so cherish the experience and opportunity if it arises.

Terri is having the first collection weekend for the drive for “socks for souls”, “undies for sundies” and “glad for bags”. She will need some help collecting these in the breezeway at Menlo Park Presbytarian Church in Menlo Park and maybe we’ll have the signup sheets there also, in case anyone wants to sign up. We still have a few slots to fill.

If you read this post and would like to help, please email telling us which times you can help; Saturday, October 21 6:00-6:30 PM, Sunday, 9:00-9:30 AM, 10:30-11:00AM, 12:00-12:30PM. I think if at least one person could help her at each time slot that would be great. Our email address is info@hearts4homeless.org. Please specify that you are interested in helping for the donation drive. You are also welcome to stop by and introduce yourself.