Tent City 2009
September 1, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
1Matters – Tent City 2009
October 30th – November 1st
Celebrating 20 Years of Caring
It is September 1st, time to roll. Preparations are underway for this year’s 1Matters Tent City.
Organizationally we are far ahead of last year. All major operations are online and on time, with food, clothing and volunteers remaining to be acquired.
The Tent City forum is now open to sign up for your volunteer position. Last year we filled all the spots a week before the event.
Food
Yvette Hall and Jim Bailey from Cherry Street Mission are again soliciting donations for food, so if you have contacts to food, let us know.
This year Friday will be an international night, andSaturday will be our “20 Year Anniversary of Caring” community barbecue dinner. Lunch will again be provided by Food for Thought on Saturday, and Sunday morning will be the “Celebrity Pancake Breakfast”, the unhoused are the celebrities.
Clothing
Clothing has always been one of our more comprehensive operations. Though we ask only for winter clothes, people still provide bathing suits, shorts and even flip flops. We have to collect a very large amount of clothing that needs to be culled and then sorted for size.
We think our partners this year will allow the entire community, even the suburbs, to help the cause. The City of Toledo is allowing all of the Toledo Fire Stations to act as collecting points during the month of October. Many suburban fire stations have agreed as well including Perrysburg, Perrysburg Township, Maumee, Rossford & Oregon, and more yet to be confirmed. Check this space and the Tent City forum for updates of the locations.
Our primary source of clothing in volume the past two years has been the churches, small and large. Our approach is not to get every church involved, instead we ask every church to tell their congregation about Tent City so those called can get their church involved.
In the Tent City Forum you will find downloadable flyers you can customize to your organization.
Assisting the effort this year is YES – FM, who will be promoting the October clothing drive and Tent City to the community.
To organize our clothing prior to Tent City all donations from all sources will end up at Cherry Street Mission’s Lifebridge Center, 3342 Monroe St. (the former Banner Mattress building). They have kindly donated the 2nd floor where we are building an exact replica of the TC donation tent. This will allow us to be pre-orginized when we deliver the clothing to Tent City. All clothing remaining after TC is donated to Cherry Street Mission Ministries and Toledo Gospel Mission.
Project Homeless Connect on Saturday is our biggest focus and coordinated effort. We will be providing haircuts, podiatry, dental and medical services, flu shots, food, clothing, birth certificates and ID’s.
As usual there will be stellar entertainment Friday and Saturday night, and we will close out the weekend with a powerful Worship Service.
The Tent City Forum is where all the planning, updates and volunteer registration will be coordinated.
This year’s Tent City is again proudly sponsored by Cherry Street Mission Ministries, Mildred Bayer Clinic for the Homeless, Mercy Health Partners, Toledo Area Ministries, and the Toledo Area Alliance to End Homelessness.
Help us Matter to those who Matter.
Toledo Streets
August 31, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
The Newspaper FROM the Streets of Toledo
A pretty remarkable project has been brewing the past six months. Born from the seed of an idea God placed on her heart, Amanda Moore is starting “Toledo Streets” with her stated mission:
“Toledo Streets is a street paper with a mission to empower individuals struggling with extreme poverty to participate on a new level in the community through self-employment, job training, and contributorship.”
This is more than just a paper, much more. Amanda will be providing employment opportunities and job training in the skills of layout, design, reporting and writing. Contributions will be sought from all sources, all voices in the community.
1Matters is doing all we can to help support Amanda and her mission, and hope you will too. She has given much to many organizations including ours, so this is a stellar opportunity to give back.
She will be donating all of her available time to this effort until grants or donations could support a poverty level salary. She is getting a pretty good group of talent that will be helping her.
She has a start up goal of $2500 and you can donate soon online at her website, ToledoStreets.org.
You can also find Toledo Streets on Facebook here.
Speaking of Facebook, you can also find 1matters on Facebook, right here.
Most Regional Fire Stations to Collect Donations
It started last year with the Toledo Fire Department allowing all TFD fire stations to be drop off points for the winter clothing drive.
This year, besides TFD, Perrysburg, Perrysburg Township, Maumee, Rossford and Oregon fire departments will be drop off centers during the month of October. Word is out to 4 others, and we should hear back soon.
Our dear friends at Yes – FM have consented to running PSA’s to support this project.
We will be making press and other announcements next week, and the forums will be open for volunteer registration.
We are very blessed. This year we will be able to respond commensurate to the need. Thank you all for your work and efforts.
You really do Matter to those who Matter.
Tent City Meeting Thursday Night
August 12, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
Just a reminder the meeting is Thursday 8/13 at 7pm @ the Red Cross HQ.
The sub-grantees were announced yesterday, no surprise but they are essentially the same organizations they put in the original Supplemental Amendment. Don’t have time today to post the behind the scenes shenanigans but will soon.
Announcement – Tent City Mayoral Debate
May 7, 2009Posted in: 0 Comments
We will provide details tonight at the planning meeting, but we are pleased to announce all 4 major mayoral candidates have committed in writing, should they make it through the primary, they will participated in the 1Matters – Tent City Poverty Debate to be held Friday night, 10/30, from 7:00pm to 8:00 pm.
We will give more details as we move along.
