Town and Mountain Realty believes everyone deserves a place to call home. The goal of this year's 3rd Annual Home for the Holidays FUNdraiser continues to concentrate on the homeless population in Asheville.
We are attempting to reach those in immediate need and that fall through the cracks with government funding. Join us and share the love as we celebrate the season by supporting local non-profits that help members of our community make this dream possible. Here are some details about the non-profits that we are supporting.
Always an open door for a child in need. If you drove by any of the CARING for Children, Inc. homes in Buncombe County, you wouldn't think they were different from any of the other homes on the street. You have to step inside to see what makes a CARING home such a special place for children. What you'll see are normal kids. They live in your neighborhood and go to school with your children. They have dreams and goals. They laugh and cry. The only difference is that they've had some problems and need a comfortable, supportive environment they can call home. That's what CARING's programs are all about. Using a variety of settings to provide help for children and families in crisis because of family conflict, abuse, neglect, behavior problems or mental health issues. Each CARING program is staffed by professionals who help children and families deal with the present, put the past behind them, and help them look to the future.
Caring for Children Programs:
Cornerstone is a residence for up to eight young women ages 16 to 21 who have long-term problems, are too old for adoption, or whose family situation is such that remaining or returning home is either impossible or would be counterproductive. Trinity Place provides a safe place for runaway and homeless shelter for children ages 7 to 17. The Shelter provides a place to find answers to the problems from which they are running and where the parent-child relationship can begin to heal. Angels Watch is a foster care program that serves children who are age 0-6 (with siblings up to age 10) who are not in the custody of the Department of Social Services and whose families are temporarily unable to care for them because of a crisis. Children are placed in licensed Angel Care homes for up to 90 days while the family attempts to resolve the problems PERCS (Proactive Enhanced Response Crisis Services) is a three-bed Therapeutic Level II foster care program for Buncombe County children, ages 0-18, who have been removed from their homes by and in the custody of the Buncombe County Department of Social Services.
Homeward Bound of Asheville began in 1988 as Hospitality House, opening its doors to serve the growing homeless population through long-term emergency shelter. In 2006, Hospitality House became Homeward Bound of Asheville, and shifted its focus from managing homelessness with shelter to ending homelessness with permanent housing. Homeward Bound's mission is working with others to end the cycle of homelessness. Through demonstrated commitment to collaborating with other community agencies and partners, Homeward Bound makes a sustainable impact on homelessness in Asheville every day.
Homeward Bound Programs:
AHOPE day Center is often a person's first entry point to homeless services in Asheville and serves as our initial opportunity to meet clients and engage them in services. A HOPE is the only day shelter in WNC, and in addition to providing important basic services every morning, it also hosts community partners in the afternoons, facilitating a deeper level of engagement and better service delivery for clients. Often called: "Front door to permanent housing" Our PATH team outreaches people who are homeless and mentally ill on the streets, in parks and campsites, and at other community agencies. Through PATH outreach, team members build relationships that allow them to connect clients with crucial mental health care services, as well as basic needs and housing supports.
Room In The Inn is a mobile shelter serving 12 women for up to 90 days. RITI is sponsored by over 40 faith congregations who take turns hosting the women for a week, providing all of their meals, shelter, and evening activities. RITI is staffed by a director who works with both the congregations and the women to move them out of the program and into permanent housing.
HOPE to HOME is Homeward Bound's newest program, begun in October 2010 as an initiative of and in partnership with the faith community. HOPE to HOME pairs interfaith teams of volunteers from congregations with a person or family who's been homeless and is moving into permanent housing. Teams commit to providing financial, material, practical, and, most importantly, relational support for one year as their partners stabilize in housing.
Pathways to Permanent Housing is the last stop on Homeward Bound's continuum of services and is a direct implementation of the Housing First model. In this program, case managers facilitate permanent housing for clients and continue their work with clients once housed to develop and enact housing stabilization plans that lead to independence and self-sufficiency.
For over 30 years, Helpmate has served as Buncombe County's primary provider of crisis-level services designed specifically for and offered exclusively to - victims of domestic violence and their children. We believe that to serve our clients, we must model a violence-free community that is founded in respect and equality. By providing safety, shelter, counseling, and advocacy, we empower each client to create a life that is free of violence. By providing education, we empower our community to create a world that is free of violence. We provide safe, confidential shelter to women and children who are leaving dangerous and potentially lethal living situations. No one should be assaulted by a partner or spouse. No child should lay awake at night trembling in fear because his home is not a safe place. We are fortunate to live in a community where men and women recognize that domestic violence is everyone's problem, and we are proud to fulfill our mission of working with our community to eliminate abuse and fear. Together, we can send the message that domestic violence is not acceptable. Together, we can create a model for peace on earth. Together, we can build a strong foundation of care and support, so that today's victims can stand tall as tomorrow's survivors.
Helpmate Programs: Emergency shelter for women and children 24 hour help hotline Individual and group counseling Court advocate programs Preventative Education for professionals, community leaders, and groups considered at risk of being abused
Western Carolina Rescue Mission
Western Carolina Rescue Ministries operates on a very simple, but powerful idea: to help people in need. Our work with the poor, the homeless and the addicted takes many forms and fits broadly into three initiatives: Rescue, Recovery and Restoration.
Rescue
A place to come when there is nowhere else to go.
With more than 500 men, women and children experiencing homelessness in our community on any given night, Western Carolina Rescue Ministries operates Asheville's largest emergency overnight shelter. By providing food, shelter and clothing, our focus is to provide for the immediate physical needs of men, women and children at point of crisis in their life and to offer hope through the power of God's love. We are here to help anyone in true need--assisting those who can and will help themselves, showing compassion for those who cannot and refusing to enable the few who would try to abuse the generosity of others.
Recovery - More Than Sobriety
Receive the help necessary to build a new life free from addiction.
Our free, 12-month residential drug and alcohol Recovery Program is an intense life training course; a place where men learn to abandon addiction and receive the resources and support necessary to build a new life. As up to 18 men progress through the 5 stages of the program, our aim is to help them to experience health and freedom beyond the substances that have controlled them for so long.
Restoration: Poverty Alleviation
Change situations and build a better future.
We provide life counseling, job training and assistance with transitional services so that people have the opportunity to change their situations and build a better future. These services are designed to equip long-term homeless clients, Recovery Program participants and the working poor from the community with the tools necessary to overcome the internal and external problems that have plagued their past, corrupted their present and jeopardize their future.
Asheville Homeless Network
Asheville Homeless Network (AHN) provides a list of core services on a regular basis while also working to Fill in Cracks when they the system reveals its imperfections in working with homeless individuals. AHN also works with other organizations to create programs that take care of the more generalized needs of the community within a team framework. Tents, tarps, sleeping bags, blankets, clothing and more are part of AHNs core services. One way AHN fills in a crack is when an individual has exhausted trying to get other organizations to issue a sorely needed bus ticket or bus pass for local Asheville travel. AHN will then use its funds to fill that crack and get that bus ticket or pass to that individual. Many organizations now refer these individuals to AHN for this specific purpose. AHN now works harder to identify these basic needs that make a huge difference in the lives of those struggling to make progress.
Being a 100% Volunteer organization, almost every penny goes directly to the homeless and needy. It normally takes AHN far less $$$ to solve many of the problems currently needing to be addressed. AHN adds the dynamic of constant direct involvement with the Homeless community to help remind everyone that there are many features of Homelessness that go unaddressed regularly.
Beyond the normal everyday needs being handled by AHN - AHN has bonded with other organizations to work on improving other needed services. Ie: Free Laundry services. Bus Tickets for emergency situations for people having to leave Asheville. Improvements in the Code Purple Program making it easier for all organizations to do a better job. Improving relations between the Homeless and the Asheville Police Department for the purpose of promoting and achieving a healthier environment for all Ashevillians while lowering the Public Relations obstacles that currently exist and that are not desired by the APD or the Homeless.
AHN also reaches out to the smaller Faith Based organizations, the Private Sector and the Business Sectors that have not yet realized their value and worth to the Homeless and Needy, or realized the pitfalls that might cause anyone of them to all of a sudden need the services being offered today to anyone in need for any reason.
Constantly working to Educate, Educate, Educate, while continuing to help upgrade services provided is the the Goal of AHN. AHN colaborates with all organizations who have the vision that it takes a family of organizations colaborating together to do the most effective job. And most importantly, it takes working with the Faith Based Organizations who Provide their own Funding, Volunteer Programs and do it with no expectations other then to know they have done right by those they are helping.
All the money in the world can not solve the problems of the Homeless or the Rich or Middle class when there is NO LOVE being offered up at the same time. Everyone would like to be Loved properly. Never forget that. Love comes in 1,000s of forms. The more we practice Loving our neighbor whether rich or poor or challenged, the closer we get to ending the real problems that cause Homelessness.
AHN is very proud of the many Faith Based organizations that have poured out their money, their time and their loving attitudes in the service of the homeless in Asheville. AHN is happy to its part while also working with others on the more aggressive and doable goals.
These amazing organizations help people in our community everyday!
If you would like to help these organizations, please join us for our 3rd Annual Home for the Holidays FUNdraiser where we will be supporting these 5 local non-profit organizations.
Town and Mountain Realty will be hosting this family event at the Orange Peel on December 5th from 5pm - 11pm.
Your donation is your admission and Town and Mountain Realty will be matching all donations up to $10,000!
If you cannot make it to our FUNdraiser & still want to help,
you can DONATE ONLINE HERE to help us reach our goal!
