Porchlight Update

    You all probably have heard about the fire at Brooks Street. It was tragic event and admittedly as had its impact on us, overall, with tremendous community support we have been able deal with this adversity. No one was seriously injured and most were returned Brooks Street the very next evening. With the help of St. Francis House next door, all occupants of units impacted by the fire and smoke have been housed. The fire damage was confined to mainly one wing of one floor with mainly smoke damage (16 units).   Clean-up and reconstruction are progressing rapidly and we plan on having all units able to be occupied by March 1. Community donations have been so overwhelming that we can no longer take donated items. As people return to their rooms and assess what they can and cannot save, we may be requesting specific items. Very limited contents insurance coverage and cash donations for the fire will be allocate on a per person basis to the residents affected. Thanks to all of you that offered your support during this very difficult time.

    Our numbers of guests for January have been far above previous years. Throughout the month of January, we have AVERAGED well over 150 guests per night with a peak of 170 last week. This week we saw 160 everyday (except Friday night with 147 and Saturday with 158). This is an increase of about 25-30 guests per night over last January. So please, if you can, plan on feeding 160 persons per night through most of February. Again, weekends and nice weather will reduce the numbers somewhat, but please plan on 160. We have particularly experienced shortages with breakfast staples, cereal, juice and milk, so to the extent you can bring those items or more of those items, we would appreciate it.

    We are planning to have our Volunteer Appreciation Brunch again this year. It will be on Saturday, May 12 at Grace Episcopal Church Gild Hall. The entrance is at the rear of the courtyard on West Washington. This is straight in back of the entrance where the guests line up to enter the shelter. Registration will be at 8:45 am, we will try to begin the brunch at 9:15 am with a program beginning a little after 9:30 and tours for those that want them afterward. Please forward this to all of your volunteers, as this is an excellent change to network and find out what else is going on with homelessness and Porchlight. Please do e-mail me and let me know who and how many you anticipate will be present. We will be sending out a couple more reminders, though, before the event.

    Also, many of you have helped with our Madison Cares Capital Campaign to construct a new Safe Haven facility at Nakoosa Trail. We began construction this past fall and did not have the time to do a formal ground-breaking ceremony before winter set in. We still plan on a ground-breaking at the site (just off from Stoughton Road where it intersects with Highway 30)…near where the Cub Foods was located before it recently closed). The date for the groundbreaking is Tuesday, April 17 at 12:00 noon. You do not need to RSVP, you can simply show up and participate in the celebration.

    Thanks so much to all of you for what you do and how much you continue to help. As our numbers continue to grow, your assistance as volunteers is more important than ever!

February "Bell" newsletter