We’re seeing shoots of green!
I hope this quick note of gratitude finds you well. I want to share the impacts of our communities ongoing and generous financial and volunteer support throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As you might imagine, and like most everyone, STAND! has witnessed unprecedented challenges for our survivors, and for our community at large.
Thanks to community support, STAND! has remained resilient and steadfast in service to those seeking a life without violence:
- We have found innovative ways to shelter residents off-site from our shelter, so that they remain apart, healthy, and safe and are now slowly returning to the use of our shelter but with far fewer families at a time. We are pleased to share that we sheltered all domestic violence victims who came to us seeking safety – no one has been turned away during this pandemic.
- We have adapted new technologies to ensure the 24-hour crisis line, online counseling, all-staff and leadership meetings, and community engagement remains active.
- We have taken advantage of this time to make renovations and improvements to our shelter and transitional housing facilities, conduct HVAC and plumbing maintenance at our Danzig office facilities, and deep clean kitchen and office areas at all locations.
- With support from community partners, we developed and maintained a learning “hub” at our Transitional Housing site so families could get the support they needed to keep their children engaged in remote learning.
- While many of our staff remained on-site as a function of their essential roles during the last year, all staff are now engaged in a methodic return to in-person, on-site work and we are safely bringing shelter residents back on-site this month as we continue to provide virtual AND in-person client counseling, case management and supportive services with staff working staggered schedules.
- We continued portions of our volunteer work on-site by bringing single family “pods” on-site to clean, paint and prepare Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing spaces.
Thanks to our generous supporters, STAND! has made it through this year – finding ways to do our work with each new twist of the pandemic. We are exhausted but also inspired – we have planned and managed well. We continue our commitment to the health of our clients, staff and volunteers while keeping the agency moving forward. We look forward to the hope that this next stage of recovery brings for us all.
Thank you for believing in STAND! and truly making our survival and the safety of those we serve, possible.
In Gratitude,
Rhonda James, CEO