Women's Emergency Respite Center
Starting January through April, Project H.O.M.E. opens its doors to the Women's Emergency Respite Center. The Women's Emergency Respite Center serves a particularly vulnerable population: women with a long history of street homelessness, many of whom are incompatible or resistant to city-run shelter services. The program opens after New Year's and operates until early spring.
The Respite provides shelter, clothing, toiletries, showers, laundry facilities, and meals. In
addition to working to engage guests each night about services and
opportunities available, the Respite provides extended services during the
week. With the help of Project H.O.M.E.'s Resource Coordinator, they are able to make
dozens of referrals around the guests' housing, legal, medical, psychiatric,
and financial needs. The Resource Coordinator also accompanies guests on
appointments and advocates for guests with service providers. Each evening the
Respite guests are picked up by Project H.O.M.E.'s Outreach teams and are
welcomed by a community of volunteers and staff. Thanks largely to last
year's incredible generosity of volunteers, we were able to serve healthy,
delicious, often home-cooked dinners each night and a warm breakfast to start
each day.
Volunteer Information
Volunteers are essential to Project H.O.M.E. and to all of the services and programs they provide. The goal this winter at the Women's Emergency Respite Center was to coordinate three to six volunteers per night to serve dinner from 6:30 until approximately 8:30. Volunteers can provide the meal in addition to serving it, or they can prepare the meal and drop it off at 1515 Fairmount Avenue.
Typical dinners consist of soup, sandwiches, tea, hot chocolate and coffee. However, culinary creativity is welcome as long as you are willing to provide the ingredients, especially if the end result is a hot meal! Individual, group, one-time and ongoing volunteers are all welcome to assist with this opportunity. In addition, if any volunteers have an evening activity that they would like to facilitate (arts and crafts, etc), creative volunteer opportunities are available.
Donation Wish List
Below is our wish list for donated items to assist with our Women's Emergency Respite Center:
Food and Toiletries
- Dinners
- Bread-rolls, breakfast items like bagels, white and brown loaves
- Frozen Casseroles
- Milk
- Bananas
- Breakfast foods like oatmeal, cereals, etc.
- Hearty foods: e.g. soups, cans of tuna, hot dogs, crackers, cookies, and baked beans
- Butter and margarine
- Oatmeal, dry cereal, bread
- Peanut butter, jelly, honey
- Coffee, tea, sugar, hot chocolate
- Non-perishable snacks (granola bars, crackers, etc.)
- Cough drops
- Soup (canned or dried)
- Drinks (milk, soda, juice, juice mix)
- Soap
- Lotion
- Shampoo and Conditioner
- Feminine hygiene products
- Blankets and towels (preferably new, but gently used is OK)
- Pillows-plastic covered and non
- New socks
- Women's underwear of ALL sizes
- Scrubs or PJ's
- Flip flops for shower
- Towels
- Sweatpants and shirts
- Hats, gloves, scarves
- Hand sanitizer
- Plastic cups, utensils, bowls
- SEPTA tokens
- Large trash bags
- Latex gloves
- Toilet paper
- Paper towels
- Band Aids
- Laundry Detergent
- Dish Detergent
- Lousing Medication
- Cleaning Supplies-bleach, sponges, buckets, disinfectants, wet mops
- Disposable dinnerware
- Serving utensils
- Tin foil and plastic wrap
- Games-board games, electronic etc.
- Power strips/surge protectors
- DVD/VCR player
- Television
- Small gift certificates to places like Wawa
- Small combination safe
- White board with markers
- Videos and DVD's
- Pitchers
To donate an item, please contact Brian Shingledecker at 215-232-7272, ext. 3057.