C lick to view this em ail in a browser Visit the PIHN website at www.philashelter.org PIHN E-Newsletter: " Neighbors Helping Neighbors One Family at a Time" March 2015 See What's Going On at PIHN! Come celebrate PIHN Empty Plate Dinner 2015 Click here to make a onetime or monthly online pledge to PIHN. We thank you for your support! Make a Donation You can make financial donations online to PIHN without spending an extra penny. Do your online shopping through iGive.com. It's as easy as 1, 2, 3... We invite you to get a taste of Northeast Philadelphia, featuring cuisine from a variety of local and Philadelphia-area restaurants. Join us for the 2015 Empty Plate Dinner, our signature Northeast Philadelphia event. Held at St. Dominic Parish’s Marian Hall and co-hosted by Holy Family University, the Empty Plate Dinner is a crowdpleasing event that draws over 300 members of the Northeast Philadelphia community. This year’s event will take place on Saturday April 18th, 2015 beginning at 5:00p.m. Dinner will be served until 8:00p.m. 1. Visit this link: http://www.igive.com /Q x51lcq. It will take you the iGive hom epage with Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network selected as your cause. Here, you can register to be a PIHN supporter (it’s easy and free). 2. After you sign up, you’ll get an em ail telling you to install the iGive button with instructions on how to do so. You can download this onto any com puter or phone you use to shop online. The button will show up on the top of your internet browser window. 3. Press the iGive button, and browse 1,300+ stores that The Empty Plate Dinner combines the warmth of community and a hearty meal for the purpose of raising support for PIHN’s congregation-based emergency shelter program. PIHN expanded its services to Northeast Philadelphia two years ago. This is a family-friendly event, suitable for all ages with fun activities for children and raffles and prizes for all. For a modest donation, attendees are treated to fresh foods and desserts from over 40 area restaurants. browse 1,300+ stores that participate and select one. You’ll see what percentage of your purchase will go to PIHN. Your purchase/donation will autom atically be registered with iGive. You’ll receive an em ail confirm ation after you visit your first store, just to m ake sure the donation tracking system is working. Learn More At the start of their meal, attendees choose a complimentary handpainted plate donated by local artists, Holy Family University students, local congregations, and school children. After the meal, guests take their plates with them as a reminder that every night many of our neighbors, even working parents and their children, have only an empty plate. Join us on this delicious occasion and savor all Northeast Philadelphia has to offer! To learn more, visit the News and Events sections of our website. New Developments Many corporations m atch em ployee donations to our organization. If you volunteer with us, your em ployer m ay also provide us with a grant as a way to recognize your ongoing support. To find out if your com pany offers one of these m atching program s, visit our Double the Donation page. Sim ply enter your com pany nam e and find out what type of corporate m atching program s are offered to you as an em ployee. Learn More Our board is hard at work on its strategic plan for the future of PIHN. The first meeting was held on February 15th (shown above) at the Northwest Day Center. There are many new exciting developments for the board to discuss as we look ahead to the year ahead: We are very grateful to the two foundations- the Fourjay Foundation and the Tabitha Foundation who, upon closing operations, made very generous donations to PIHN. Both foundations have supported our work for many years. The Tabitha Foundation's gift will go towards sustaining our art therapy program for children. The Fourjay Foundation's gift will be used to support a variety of projects including the jump start of our new "Housing Fast" program providing rental assistance for working families. It also provided new computers for a our family room and new beds. We also received a $60,000 grant from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program administered through the local United Way of SEPA + Southern NJ. Vroom Vroom!: PIHN in Motion Vroom Vroom!: PIHN in Motion Pictured above, PIHN alumna, Theresa, meets her new Honda Accord. The biggest and most determined saver we've ever seen, Theresa was traveling an hour and a half EACH WAY to her job in Horsham as a forklift operator. Now with this car, she has two additional hours a day to her self. Her children are able to attend after school programs and she can see them all off to school in the morning. The car has been transformation for her and her family! The car was donated as part of the Recycled Rides program, a unique program in which insurers, collision repairers, paint suppliers, parts vendors and others collaborate to repair and donate vehicles to deserving individuals and service organizations in local communities throughout the country. To date, four PIHN families have been matched with repaired vehicles through this wonderful program! This year, we thank Service King in Huntington Valley, Technical College High School (TCHS) Brandywine, Geico, Allstate and the 15 other vendors who contributed to the repair of the vehicles donated to our families. We also thank Board of Directors member Laverne Jones for her support in the recipient selection process. PIHN also has new wheels to celebrate as we have been gifted with two working vehicles pictured above, a 2010 Honda minivan and a 1999 Ford truck, both in excellent shape. The vehicles are used to transport families and their belongings, as well as pick up and deliver furniture donations. We extend many thanks to the McLean Contributionship for its grant which allowed us to purchase these vehicles. Advocacy Corner "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" Steven Smith ('14) PIHN teen alum, pictured with Board of Directors member Joe Willard and members of Senator Casey's staff, went to Washington D.C. to meet with Pennsylvania Senators and Legislators about the Homeless Children and Youth Act (HCYA) and asking for support for McKinney Vento funding providing services for homeless students and youth. Steven is completing his last year of high school in the Mastery/Community College accelerated program, where he is getting a jump on college credits. We are so proud of all of his accomplishments and that he is willing to speak up for homeless youth! I Now Pronounce You PIHN Supporters! Courtney McMeans and Ross Becker are both school teachers in Philadelphia and on May 23rd will become husband and wife. PIHN was pleasantly surprised when Courtney reached out to us to ask if, in lieu of bridal shower gifts, her shower attendees could send donations to PIHN. "[We] have come to understand how a solid and stable home can impact a family," says McMeans. "We wanted to try to contribute toward the future of families that need help establishing a stable home because it is the right thing to do. We chose PIHN because we like the interfaith aspect and also that it does not just offer temporary solutions to homelessness but tries to prevent homelessness by promoting long-term relationships and education." We wish Courtney and Ross all the happiness in the world and thank them and their friends and family for their generosity. If you have an upcoming wedding or ceremony and would like to list PIHN as a beneficiary, please contact our office at [email protected] or 215-247-4663 ext. 136. You TOO can share your concern about students experiencing homelessness... Action Alert: Support HCYA! The numbers of homeless children and youth in our nation’s schools are growing. The funds to support them in being full participants in school needs to grow too! Add your voice in making our Senators and Representatives aware that we want them to support the Homeless Children and Youth Act (HCYA). Click on this link to visit our website. You will find: 1) A sample letter to your senator and representative 2) An email address list for sending your letters It takes a minute to add your voice. Thanks for all you do! Alumni Updates Dolly is bringing back her fabulous pop-up thrift store to the PIHN Day Center! On Saturday April 4th, the grand re-opening of Eye of the Doll pop-up thrift store will take place from 10a-5p at 7047 Germantown Avenue. The re-opening will feature a $1 rack and the latest spring fashions in children's and women's apparel. The rain day event is scheduled for Sunday April 5th. For more information, visit www.faceboook.com/eyeofthedoll or follow Dolly her self on Instagram @eyeofthedoll. You can also learn more about Dolly's journey in this Hype TV article featuring our very own fashionista! Nany new house 1 Congratulations are in order! Tanisha ('15) just started a new fulltime job in counseling and she and her three sons will be signing a lease soon! We are so happy for them. Nancy and Aubrey ('15) (pictured above) will also be moving to new housing very soon. So exciting! We also congratulate Fatima ('15) and her children on their move to new housing! So many wonderful additions to our alumni group! We wish Adia ('07) luck in settling into her new apartment! And we are thrilled for Quanda ('06), who is graduating with her B.A. from Eastern University in May and starts her new job with the City of Philadelphia at the end of this month. We also congratulate John ('06) on the success of his new nonprofit NueDae Foundation, which focuses on bringing sports and after school activities to children. Keep up the great work, John! Finally, we thank Boguswava ('06) for her help in the office providing clerical and administrative support. She has been such a helpful addition to the PIHN office and we are so excited to have her back at our Day Center. Contact Us | Phone: 215-247-4663 | Elis ha@philas helter.org If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe Click here to forward this email to a friend Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network 7047 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19119 US Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.
© Copyright 2024