The Homeless Alliance

Jeans and Sneakers Donation Drive! The Homeless Alliance is in need of adult-size jeans and tennis shoes (or work boots). Other types of clothing and shoes are not being accepted at this time. Please consider donating new or gently used items or hosting a drive with your office, friends, family, or faith community. Donations can be delivered to our campus located on the corner of N.W. 3rd and Virginia (one block east of Penn on N.W. 3rd) between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. For bulk donations or to coordinate a separate drop off time, please e-mail [email protected]. Monetary donations are also welcome and can be made online at: http://bit.ly/donateHA

We want to wish our Muslim friends a happy Ramadan and thank them for their generosity. Muslims abstain primarily from food and drinks during the daylight hours during the month of Ramadan. So the Oklahoma Muslim Women for Humanity have decided they will channel this acute sense of hunger into helping those in our community who are always hungry and experience food insecurity. The women are helping us provide meals for guests of the Day Shelter for the entire month of Ramadan raising more than $10,000 so far. They are also volunteering to serve lunch throughout the month. This is the fifth year for their Meals by Muslims support, and we are very thankful! If you want to join in their efforts, visit MealsByMuslims.com (photo from a previous year)

Thanks to The House FM, for raising money to help feed guests visiting our Day Shelter. They included us in their annual fundraiser that supports their station and helps them impact their local community raising enough funds to provide 3,350 hot meals for people in OKC who are experiencing homelessness. We appreciate their support!

Welcome home, Scott! Since the end of 2019, Scott has been living unsheltered on the streets of OKC. Scott was excited about his new apartment and really excited to get some groceries and cook them in his own kitchen and oven. Scott has long hair that he keeps pulled back in a pony-tail with multiple rubber bands so it stays secured. When his case manager asked him if she could take a photo of him in his new place he replied, Yeah! And I can let my hair down now since I’m h...ome! We thought this statement beautifully represented what it was like to finally be housed after experiencing homelessness. Living on the streets is not pleasant. It can be scary. When you are living in a constant state of crisis, it is hard to focus on anything else but survival. Not knowing if you will be safe, where you will eat, where you will use the restroom, where you will sleep, if your remaining possessions will be secure. Crises take a toll on a person. But once a person finally has the safety and security of their own place, they can finally breathe again. They can get some of the best sleep they have had in a long time. They can start focusing on improving their lives whether that be their physical or mental health, reconnecting with friends and family, employment, and the list goes on. They can finally let their hair down. Homelessness is complicated, and it can’t be solved by any single agency. It requires the entire community working together to address it. We want to thank the Oklahoma City Housing Authority for their support with housing, Skyline Urban Ministry for providing Scott with groceries, and all of our partners and supporters who make stories like this possible. Together, we can end homelessness in Oklahoma City. #endhomelessnessOKC If you’d like to help us continue to house more people like Scott, please consider donating through our Facebook or website: https://homelessalliance.org/?page_id=1191

With a temporary zoning permit and a short-term lease on the building coming to an end, last week marked the closing of the temporary winter night shelter at Willard School that we operated in partnership with Mental Health Association Oklahoma with support from the City of Oklahoma City - Government. In the 75 nights it was open, we served 1,120 unduplicated people and their pets. 27% reported mental illness, 20% physical disabilities, 15% three or more co-occurring disabili...ties, 23% were experiencing domestic violence, 32% were chronically homeless. The shelter averaged 144 people each night. It was heart breaking. The temporary shelter was created to fill a gap in shelter beds caused by COVID-19 during the coldest winter months. And this winter, we saw some of the coldest days in our history. It also temporarily filled a gap in low-barrier shelter beds in OKC which basically means anyone could come no matter what, and they were not required to have certain documentation or follow certain program requirements. With declining COVID cases, rising vaccinations & additional safety protocols including UVC lighting, shelters like City Rescue Mission, Grace Rescue Mission, Jesus House of Oklahoma City & The Salvation Army Central Oklahoma Area Command are slowly starting to increase capacity. Additionally, City Care opened a new low-barrier night shelter on April 6 adding 128 beds to the community’s overnight shelter capacity and filling an important gap in low barrier shelter beds. The community is so fortunate to have this new shelter available. While our temporary night shelter has come to an end, we will continue to operate our low-barrier Day Shelter serving breakfast & lunch, offering showers, mail, a kennel, lockers & access to needed services like healthcare, legal counseling, budgeting support as well as housing programs to help people end their homelessness. Because that is what is ultimately needed to end homelessness housing. We are thankful for the support of the City of Oklahoma City/Oklahoma City Homeless Services without whom we would not have been able to open this temporary night shelter and for our partners at the Mental Health Association for working with us on this project.

Welcome home, Matthew! Matthew has been unsheltered, living on the streets of OKC off and on for several years. He is a regular guest at our Day Shelter and had recently been utilizing the temporary winter night shelter at Willard School. Matthew is very soft spoken and quiet, but he was very excited to move in to his new apartment! He said he is most excited to have a safe space to sleep and not be on the streets anymore. Matthew also said he is going to cook a lot of good f...ood in his new kitchen, and he is interested in getting a dog for companionship one day. Homelessness is complicated, and it can’t be solved by any single agency. It requires the entire community working together to address it. We want to thank the Oklahoma City Housing Authority, and all of our partners and supporters who make stories like this possible. Together, we can end homelessness in Oklahoma City. #endhomelessnessOKC #endhomelessness If you’d like to help us continue to house more people like Matthew, please consider donating through our Facebook or website: https://homelessalliance.org/?page_id=1191