Our neighbors need us and we need you.
For the first time, we are launching a Summer Support campaign. We need your help to keep up with the requests for assistance that we are encountering every day.
Why?
Our weekly USDA distribution surged to 208 families in a single day this past Wednesday. With fuel and grocery prices rising, families need help keeping their children fed.
We currently have 52 individuals in case management, have moved 25 individuals into housing so far this summer, and have had more than 65 requests for housing help this past month. Our families are still struggling to find adequate hours. They cannot afford gas to take income supplementing jobs through Uber, Instacart, and other delivery services. Inflation is pressuring already strained budgets. Some are stuck waiting for processing of government rent relief programs, while evictions proceed anyway. Resources are stretched thin. This is the reality of what it looks like to journey with the poor following the pandemic…this is our new normal.
We are struggling to keep up, too. This increased volume forces us to prioritize in heartbreaking ways; we have to choose to serve the most critical experiences of homelessness and delay homelessness prevention because of our limited finances. Our donations are down, with donors citing the change in the economy as a primary reason for pausing their support. We know that times are uncertain, but we have also seen how our community has rallied before.
At the beginning of the pandemic, our food pantry shelves were cleared within three days. But bag by bag, family by family, your extra box of cereal or box of pasta multiplied by your neighborhood or business, restocked our shelves and kept our doors open the entire time. We humbly call upon you again, to see where your neighbors are struggling and respond generously and compassionately. All gifts, at any level, make a difference.
Donate here.
Would you like to do more?
By making a financial commitment to Williamsburg House of Mercy, you allow us to focus on meeting the needs of our community. We are able to budget confidently, knowing that funding is on its way.
We ask our “Advocates of Mercy” to make a commitment in one of the
following ways:
- Make a monthly gift, at any level, for at least one calendar year.
- Make an annual gift of $10,000 or more.
Contact Nicole for more information.
