Dear Friends,
Whew! is the only term I can think of to describe last Saturday’s Fresh Start. We had a record 276 guests served by just 60 of you hardy souls–but everybody was fed and our guests were happy and complimentary.
Two things stood out for me. First, a new guest came to me and said, “I don’t know what to do. Can you help?” She had just become homeless and was living in her car. I immediately took her over to meet Gabriela, who works with La Mesa’s incredible HOME program(Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement). Later in the day, she came back to me with overflowing thanks and said that she had gotten exactly the kind of help she needed and was much less panicked about her new situation. A huge thank you to our partner, HOME!
The second exciting thing on Saturday was being able to take some short video clips of some of our guests and volunteers that we will be able to show on Sunday, October 11th, at our special church service which is part of the national “Weekend to End Homelessness.” You are all invited–and urged!–to attend that special service which starts at 9:30 am. We will be celebrating Fresh Start and identifying some actions we can take to make a real impact on homelessness in our community. Let the change begin with us! It would be wonderful to hear from you if you are planning to attend, so we can have your lanyard ready and plenty of refreshments after the service. You can let us know by clicking here.
You may have already heard that we have received an enormous grant from Wesley Developments Foundation–enough to pay for three fourths of our expenses for the coming year. We will be recognizing and thanking Wesley Developments on the 11th. But since our numbers–and expenses!–continue to rise, we are looking at ways we can begin scaling back some of our offerings in order to have a base for starting the following year. We’ll let you know as our position becomes clearer, but in the meantime, we still need your donations of both money and supplies.
Finally, we have a new website for Fresh Start where we will begin posting new events and ideas. Check it out at FreshStartLaMesa.com. Feedback and suggestions are welcome!
I hope to see you on the 11th or at our next Fresh Start event on October 31st–Halloween–and we prefer treats to tricks!
Lynn
