We found out about Josephine House through "Veterans First", the only 501c(3) agency in Orange County that works to provide services exclusively to our region's homeless and at-risk veterans (www.veteransfirstoc.org). Veterans First (VF) provides a multitude of services including housing, meals, life coaching, counseling, life skills, access to mental health counseling, benefit counseling, transportation, as well as job training and employment placement assistance.
Veterans First (VF) currently operates 10 permanent and transitional housing facilities at a capacity of 122 total beds for employable and disabled veterans within 3 Northern Orange County cities (Anaheim, Garden Grove and Santa Ana). Each home is staffed 24/7 with a house manager that can assist clients with making sure they are working toward a successful completion of the VF program. Each house is also staffed with a cook that provides nutritious meals to the residents. Additionally, VF in the summer of 2011 began operating the country's only transitional housing facility for unaccompanied female veterans.
Josephine House is one of the 10 permanent homes for Veterans. The house is located in a residential area of Garden Grove, CA. The house is home to 22 Veterans. These Veterans are seniors, mostly serving in Vietnam. There are two men to a bedroom; there is a shared living room and community space at the residence. These Vets share meals together at the dining table. Although Veterans First does a great job of housing these Vets, it is our desire to ensure they have more than housing. We want them to feel honored and recognized for their service to us and our Country. "Friends of Josephine House" is a small group of volunteers who visit the residence at all holiday events to share a home meal, listen to stories, and share laughter. Meals are historically funded from volunteers' own pockets.
Feeding 22 hungry men and a few volunteers can get expensive. The Garden Grove Rotary Club wishes to be part of the volunteer group that will help fund the house needs along with helping subsidize meals during special events/holidays. During the holidays, we will "adopt" several of the residents and will shop for basic personal needs (personal hygiene products, belts, shoes, etc.)to make their holiday brighter and to honor their service to our country. many of the Vets love to read so we also envision providing books (new and used) to help stock their book case.
We are envisioning a total project cost for supporting Josephine House of $3,000 which will be funded 50/50 by the Garden Grove Rotary club ($1,500 participation) and District 5320 ($1,500 "match"). Funds will be used as follows and during the following dates:
$1,000 to be utilized from 10/1/14 - 11/1/14 to purchase food and other provisions for a Veterans Day celebration and recognition at Josephine House on November 11, 2014. If we do not use all of the $1,000 for this event, unspent funds will either be used to satisfy a "needs list" of household products/kitchen items or carried over for use at the next holiday event.
$1,000 will be utilized from 10/31/14 - 11/25/14 to purchase food and other provisions for a Thanksgiving day celebration and dinner at Josephine House on November 27, 2014. If we do not use all of the $1,000 for this event, unspent funds will either be used to satisfy a "needs list" of household products/kitchen items or carried over for use at the next holiday event.
$1,000 will be utilized from 12/1/14 - 12/23/14 to purchase food and other provisions for a Holiday Dinner at Josephine House on December 25, 2014 as well as "adopt" as many Veterans as our budget will allow. If for example, we dedicated $50 per "adoptee" we envision supporting at least 10 Vets with necessities such as soap, deodorant, socks, pajamas, slippers, blankets, etc. If the needs are greater, we will lower our "adoptee" count.
We will obtain a "needs list" from counselors and the house manager prior to each dinner gathering. A minimum of two Rotarians will participate in each needs list meeting with a representative from Josephine's House and folks from the volunteer committee. A minimum of two Rotarians will purchase the provisions needed for the events and we will likely shop at Costco and Walmart or wherever we find sales within our community. A minimum of 3 Rotarians will attend each dinner/celebration and they will come back to our Club with a post-event followup to share their experience. A minimum of 2-6 Rotarians will purchase items for our "adoptees" (depending on how many adoptees we can support). We envision having our grant fully funded and closed no later than January 15, 2015. All told, we can expect a minimum of 50% (13) of our Club Members participating in these events.
PUBLIC IMAGE
1. We will provide press releases to local community newspapers in addition to the Orange County Register and our Club's website as well as Veterans First's website.
2. We will have at least one Cable TV spot on (community-access)Channel 3 conducted by the City of Garden Grove's Community Services Dept./Cable Division. Video tapped interviews will include at least 1 Rotarian.
3. We will obtain photos of Rotarians at work purchasing goods for the gatherings as well as photos of Vets and fellow Rotarians at the . We will post those photos on our website as well as that of Veterans First.
We are very honored to be a part of this wonderful opportunity to give back to our valued Veterans. They deserve to be honored, respected, and befriended by Rotary and we are pleased to provide them that support.
|