Celebration Over Coffee
Pillars Celebrates One-Year Anniversary
During our October Celebration over Coffee, 17 members of the community joined Joe Mauthe, Pillars Executive Director, and several Pillars staff members, who shared some reasons we have to celebrate in our first year as Pillars.
Crystal, case manager with Pillars It Takes a Village Program; Marleigh, shelter client advocate at Pillars Adult Shelter; and Paige, case manager with It Takes a Village, shed light on the important work they do for Pillars and the difference the merger that created Pillars one year ago has made in their ability to assist individuals who benefit from Pillars programs.
We are celebrating smooth, less traumatizing transitions for our clients when they move from homelessness to coming home. With our new team structure, our clients are able to continue to work with staff members who were there for them while they were in crisis. The trusted crisis staff members are able to smoothly and slowly transition clients from crisis services to our stable housing programs. Now that the three organizations have merged, our crisis housing staff and our stable housing staff work hand-in-hand to give our clients the best care possible.
We are celebrating our great community! Remember the Polar Vortex? Well, we are celebrating it and here’s why. We had a full house at the Adult Shelter– over 70 people who would have been out on the streets – when our pipes burst. When the call went out that we needed help, our community answered! Valley Transit stepped up and transported people to The Mission Church, where they stayed several days and nights. In addition to The Mission Church, community members opened their homes to clients who would have otherwise been in the elements. We can’t do what we do without the support of our great community.
We are celebrating 520 check-ins at Pillars Resource Center this year. The Resource Center, which opened in September 2018, is a place where people experiencing homelessness and housing challenges can go to connect to resources like housing navigation, financial advice, addiction recovery, education assistance, health advice and screening, animal therapy, music therapy and much more.
The Adult & Family Shelter and the Adult Shelter served 1,142 men, women, and children over the past year. As part of Pillars Crisis Housing program, the shelters provided each individual and family a place to lay their head at night, warm meals to eat, and other basic needs while beginning to connect with case management. In total, 49,000 bed nights (one bed night = one person in shelter for one night) were provided to those in our Crisis Housing program.
Did you know Pillars owns 42 properties with 117 housing units? Over the past year, 484 people had a place to call home within Pillars owned properties. Through Pillars Stable and Supportive Housing programs, individuals and families served receive additional, sometimes monthly, case management and support from Pillars staff.
Through Pillars Prevention and Diversion programs, 349 individuals who were identified as at risk of homelessness began connecting to case management. The goal for both programs is to keep individuals and families in their homes, to divert them from staying in shelter if other resources are available.
Pillars Vision Statement, approved recently by the Board of Directors, sets a positive course for the future. “To lead our community in finding innovative, effective solutions so experiences of homelessness are rare and brief and everyone has a place to call home.” As we look ahead to the future of Pillars, we are excited to have your support in providing everyone in our community a place to call home.
Please join us for our next Conversation over Coffee at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday, December 5, 2019 in Pillars Community Room, 609 E. Hancock Street, Appleton. No RSVP is necessary.
