Homeless shelter needs donated diapers, bedroom furniture

HALO is looking for donations. Here's a note from Stephanie Kolber, HALO's Family Program Manager:

Hello Everyone,

I am writing you this email to ask for your assistance. We are looking for donations of diapers size 5 & 6. We have plently of the other sizes, but are completely out of 5 and 6's. With 22 children in shelter, we are going through the diapers very quickly. If you are able to help please drop off the items at HALO on the women's side. I thank you ahead of time for any help you are able to give.

Please pass this to anyone you think can help.

Thank you again,

Stephanie Kober

Brenda Thomas, development assistant for HALO, added the homeless shelter is looking to replace the furniture in its bedrooms. Here's a note from Thomas:

HALO is looking to do several things this spring:  update our bed stock with heavy duty wooden bunk beds (new, preferably, try Furniture Warehouse on Washington Ave.) and replace much of the dresser stock with solid, sturdy dressers - new or gently used.  After four years, 107 people per night (average) things start to need replacing.  If you are able to help,,,or can forward these requests to other groups/individuals who may be able to help, please feel free to do so. THANK you for supporting and promoting HALO!!

HALO seeking donated dressers and storage containers

Here's a note from Brenda Thomas, development assistant at HALO, on donations needed at Racine's homeless shelter:

Hello Everyone!! Happy Spring. I am getting ready to start our May Newsletter and the Community Newsletter for the Journal Times. I have gotten a couple of requests that I feel should get out ASAP to those who are amongst our most avid supporters. These items are needed because we are in constant movement here at HALO, both in our sleeping rooms and in our offices where the necessary paper trail continues to grow!!

We have been blessed to have had several groups in here lately "Adopting" rooms and giving them a makeover. The furniture & accessories donated during the Adoption are extremely appreciated. One of the ongoing challenges here is that we always need DRESSERS and STORAGE CONTAINERS, especially those that slip under the beds. The dressers must be sturdy and able to take the movement (from room to room when necessary) and heavy use. Our rooms aren't always able to accommodate the longer, horizontal dressers so the vertical/taller dressers work best. Also, sturdy racks (and hangers) to hang clothing on are high on the NEED list. Even a 'tree' for coats can help to alleviate the demand for dresser space.

For the office, we are looking for four-drawer METAL FILE CABINETS, with locks preferably but not absolutely necessary. Two-drawer cabinets could always be used too ... either here at HALO or out at our apartments i.e. in THP or PHP.

If you are ever wondering what HALO could use as far as donations, please visit our Website at www.haloinc.org. I try to keep that current. I do know that we will always need fresh fruit and vegetables … just FYI.

Thanks for ALL you do ………. we can't tell you enough how important you are to HALO!! Feel free to send this to your list serve.

Brenda Thomas, Development Assistant

City committee reverses itself, votes to give money to Racine homeless shelter, literacy council

HALO in Racine

HALO and the Racine Literacy Council will receive federal money from the city this year after changes a committee's vote last week.

Racine's Community Development Committee voted Jan. 7 to reverse its own decision to exclude the homeless shelter and literacy council from Community Development Block Grant dollars.

The committee freed up a portion of the $2.1 million it received from the federal government by removing $50,000 it had set aside for the Flat Iron Mall on Douglas Avenue, $20,000 for the Foundation of Life nonprofit and $15,000 for Project New Life's Project Nehemiah.

The city divvied up the $85,000 for a variety of uses. Along with HALO and the literacy council, the city also gave an extra $435 to the Racine County Economic Development Corp. for commercial corridor staffing, an extra $15,000 for planting trees, $5,000 more dollars for a plaque to mark the Underground Railroad in Racine, and $30,000 more for crosswalk ramps in the city.

Click here for a list of projects city officials recommended for CDBG money. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal next week.

The committee's changes came after it collected public input on its preliminary recommendations on how to spend the block grants. HALO and the literacy council both pushed for funding after getting shut out of the initial recommendations. HALO's exclusion was somewhat surprising because the homeless shelter had received at least $50,000 the last three years.

The shelter's actions were mildly successful. HALO had requested $76,000 in CDBG money, but will receive less than a third of its request.

The Racine Literacy Council will receive $15,000 for its English as a second language program tutoring program.

The big loser in the committee's vote was the Flat Iron Mall, which stood to gain $50,000 to renovate the aging building. The committee narrowly voted to defund the project, with Mayor John Dickert casting the deciding vote against the project.

Opponents pointed out the city's own plans questioned the Flat Iron Mall's long-term viability on Douglas Avenue. Supporters said the mall served as an incubator for small businesses and needed a facelift.

HALO, shut out of city funding, may get another chance at CDBG money

The city's Community Development Block Grant committee will reconsider its decision to deny money to Racine's primary homeless shelter.

The Community Development Committee voted on Oct. 8 to deny HALO's entire request. The shelter had received at least $50,000 in CDBG funding the last three years.

Alderman Greg Helding, who sits on the committee, said Friday he wanted to take another look at HALO's $76,194 request to run its shelters. Helding voted against money for the homeless shelter, but he's since reconsidered his decision.

CDBG money is given out by the federal government to help communities pay for local projects and programs. Helding said the money should be given out based on community priorities, and based on that criteria, HALO was a worthy recipient.

Others on the committee argued the Community Development Committee should consider new programs this year instead of acting out of habit. Ken Lumpkin, who sits on the committee, said all organizations should be eligible for the money.

"There shouldn't be any sacred cows," Lumpkin said. "No organization should be automatic."

The decision on HALO came, in part, because the city received $1.4 million in requests for about $315,000 in CDBG money. Lumpkin said deciding among projects is near impossible because most organizations who apply are doing important work in the community.

"Homelessness is an issue, but joblessness is an issue. So are youths being steered away from gangs," Lumpkin said.

The committee's decision on HALO was surprising because the organization received $50,400 in CDBG funding in 2007, $55,000 in 2008 and $50,000 in 2009. The shelter requested $76,194 for 2010.

The decision drew a strong rebuke from Neal Nottleson, who sits on the shelter's board of directors. Nottleson wrote to community members:

... I could translate the decision to exclude the decision to exclude HALO from ANY CDBG funding for 2010 (after being the recipient of $50,000 this year) as, in effect saying "... we've now resolved the homeless issue; let's move on to other things...". Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth and I don't really believe you think that to be the case, but that's how it could appear.

Nottleson urged the committee to reconsider its decision, and he'll likely get his wish. Helding said the committee's recommendations at the Oct. 8 meeting were preliminary and that he'll ask to reconsider the HALO decision.

The committee's next meeting is Oct. 21.

Positively Racine: HALO offers a place of hope and connection

By Bill Griffiths

No one wants to live at a homeless shelter if they have other choices.

Most people don’t even want to contemplate living at a shelter. People will do everything they can, including calling in every favor from anyone and everyone they ever knew, before they seek out a shelter. Often, people who desperately need help don’t ask for it, don’t know who to ask, or densely woven pride and shame won’t permit them to ask.

There are people who’ve made a lifetime of bad decisions in short lives, some choices they aren’t even aware of or capable of understanding. Others carry with them problems that were part of a flawed or failed upbringing. Even more have encountered circumstances beyond their control that have been compounded by a non-existent or diminished network of family and friends. For these people, there often isn’t further to fall, and with luck or Providence they find shelter and caring, and perhaps some tough love.

The Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization (HALO), on DeKoven Avenue, has two separate shelters under one roof. It has room for 60 men in one and 60 women and children in the other, and over the last year has cared for about 115 people per night. In one calendar year, that is nearly 42,000 nights of shelter and care.
HALO has evolved from the substantial earlier efforts of Homeward Bound and the Racine Emergency Shelter Task force (REST). Those programs exhausted well-meaning churches and volunteers providing shelter in different churches on different nights. There was also some significant frustration that those efforts alone couldn’t change the peoples’ circumstances. It’s obvious that the caring community of Racine and the talented people who operate HALO have learned many lessons and put a great deal of thought, effort and dollars into creating the programs in place today.

A tour of HALO quickly dispels any preconceived image of a dark and dirty place that reeks of hopelessness, filled with drunks and derelicts. Among the most surprising things one finds is not just a clean and welcoming space (which is a genuine surprise), but a program. It’s not just a shelter, and because of the thought that went into it and the efforts that sustain it, it helps create positive outcomes.
When a person in need first arrives at HALO, often they need a place to rest …warmth, meals and a place to sleep…a place to gather their thoughts on what to do next. Beyond a short initial period, idleness is not the norm. HALO doesn’t have residents, or guests, or clients. It has "participants." Every one of the participants develops an individual success plan to pursue, and meets regularly with a caseworker who monitors that progress is being made.

Executive Director Cheryl Buckley describes a full daily schedule where the participants must be active and involved…not just staying, not just taking up space.

"We don’t have a limit on how much time a person can spend here. The first 30 days are probationary. Case managers are tough. If you don’t stick with our program, if you don’t behave the way you say you will, you’re out. Sometimes it’s about getting the right help, medications that can lead back to better decision making, or access to government programs that may take a long time to act. It’s very self-defeating and hopeless to give people a set time. A lot of things don’t happen fast."

Some of the participants who have been helped by HALO serve on an advisory council that helps the oversight boards in Racine learn from personal experiences at HALO and offers feedback on potential changes. To talk with people who have moved on with their lives after a stint at HALO is to learn about caring, shelter and food provided, but also about a myriad of services with which they have been connected.

"This is one of the few shelters that offers any program…most give you some food, a place to sleep, and tell you where to get help, but don’t themselves offer help. People who come to a shelter constantly want changes to make it more comfortable for them, but HALO doesn’t want to make it too comfortable, they want you to correct the things that brought you there and get on with your life."

Among the programs HALO connects people with are: addiction counseling and treatment, psychological services (and associated pharmaceutical treatments), immunizations, child development assessments, parent education classes, GED classes, job training, conflict resolution training, and many others…all aimed at breaking the cycles that resulted in these broken lives.

In a society that is much about lots of activity that passes for action, HALO distinguishes itself by being real assistance. It is about collaboration among several organizations and about putting people and their lives back together. Ms. Buckley has marshaled Racine’s good hearts and largess, federal funding, corporate funding, local programs, and helped open peoples’ eyes to new solutions.

HALO has an important mission: a commitment to preventing chronic homelessness in Racine County by meeting shelter needs and coordinating supportive services. Racine has plenty of reasons to be proud. HALO’s existence and program quality are unlikely reasons, but definitely among the best.

To contact HALO, phone 262-633-3235, www.haloinc.org

If you know of anyone whose lives and self-esteem are on the verge of crumbling, see what you can do yourself to reach out. Beyond that, put them in touch with "211," Racine County’s centralized human services information line and lifeline to assistance.

To find out about other resources in Racine County, click here.

Leadership Racine Brings Art to HALO

By Marie Block

Dance!

On Saturday afternoon, children and adults celebrated the newly formed Racine Inner City Art House at HALO. The arts and culture committee of Leadership Racine's 2009 class had a vision to "give kids something to say 'yes' to," as Raquel Freeman, a member of Leadership Racine, stated. Their goal is to have HALO host a children's art center for residents and the surrounding community. The center will expose children to visual and performing arts that are not a part of most school curriculum, including dance and martial arts, to instill confidence and creativity in all children.

The day's festivities began with Victor Niño, an instructor at the Racine Athletic Club, along with Heather Sampson, leading both children and adults in Zumba, a combination of Latin and Reggaeton dances with a focus on fitness and fun. The group then went into HALO's "The Room to Grow." Children's hands were colored with bright paints and placed onto a tree painted by Chris Stretenovich and Becky Mantenfel. Stephanie Kober, HALO's Family Program Manager, wrote the children's names next to their handprints... handprints of future artists.

HALO searching for executive director

HALO, Racine's homeless shelter, is looking for an executive director. Pays $55,000 a year, but you need extensive experience working with the homeless. Apply here. The new director replaced Cheryl Buckley, who came out of retirement to run the agency after it was started in 2005.

HALO offers a colorful place to rest your head

Small sample of HALO's hand-made pillow cases

Four hundred colorful, hand-made pillow cases will be on the menu when HALO holds its summer picnic on Sunday, Aug. 24, from noon to 4 p.m. at the homeless shelter, 2000 DeKoven Ave.

The picnic's main purpose is to celebrate HALO's third anniversary, which is coming up this fall, and to note the completion of its capital campaign projects. The Homeless Assistance Leadership Organization raised $2.4 million before opening in 2005 (a campaign led by Bill Walker), and the money has been spent building out the inside of the shelter and for operations during its first three years. Now HALO is operating in the black, on a $1.1 million annual budget, as per its first business plan -- its 110 residents and 55 more in transitional apartments supported by HUD, other government grants, the United Way and local foundations. The final capital project -- the planting of three trees and erection of a fence around the women's and children's play area in front -- will be finished this week.

The organization is looking to the future in a number of ways. One is this first fund-raiser, selling beautiful pillow cases made by residents and volunteers from the community, and an auction of specialty baskets at the picnic.

Another is to begin looking for its second executive director. Cheryl Buckley, right, who has headed HALO since its inception -- she was enticed out of retirement as a YMCA director (here, and later in Chicago) -- had agreed to a two-year term to get the organization built and on its feet. "I've now been here three and a half-years," she said. "They got double," she jokes. Buckley was unaware there was a three-year business plan in place when she agreed to take the job, but she stayed through to its completion. Now she and her husband, Peter, have bought a home in Cape Coral, FL.

"This time, I'm not going to say I'm 'retiring' again," she said. "I love to troubleshoot and create. We'll see what happens." HALO will begin looking for a replacement for her in September.

The pillow case project began with a resident of the homeless shelter, "a wonderful seamstress," who was sewing pillowcases for the troops in Iraq. Lighthouse Quilters Guild and other organizations were involved in similar projects. Later, Buckley said to herself, "wouldn't pillow cases be a wonderful project for HALO."

And so she put a note in the organization's newsletter, asking for material. Jim Deibler, owner of Sew 'n Save, donated some sewing machines and gave a workshop in their use to half a dozen shelter residents. Patterns were printed in the newsletter. Pretty soon, many volunteers were sewing: nuns, relatives of shelter residents, residents and even Buckley herself.

The pillow cases are colorful and professional; French seams abound (if you guys don't know what that is, ask your wives). They are being sold individually, at $10 each, and also in pairs of color-coordinated pillow cases. There are flower designs, stripes, solids -- even sports-themed pillow cases.

This is HALO's first fund-raiser since its original capital campaign, which drew donations from 255 companies, organizations, churches and individuals. Donors' names will all be enshrined on a large painted plaque to be hung in the shelter's entrance hall by the time of the picnic. The shelter also has been the recipient of funds collected during the Empty Bowls campaign, Splash 'n Dash and Young Professionals of Racine's Big Fat Wedding.

Everyone is invited to the hot dog picnic lunch and bake sale.

HALO's doors opened in November 2005 to men, and December 2005 to women and children. For more information, go to HALO's website.

Our story on HALO's second anniversary is HERE.

YPR's 'Big Fat Wedding Party' has it all...

The happy couple: Juliana Garcia and Jay Christie

UPDATE: The numbers are in ... the wedding party brought in $5,985 in contributions and gifts to benefit HALO, Safe Haven, the Women's Resource Center and Bethany Apartments, according to Chris Terry of YPR. Once the bills for the party are paid, YPR also expects to kick in an additional $500 for the party being under budget.

"The turnout was wonderful and everyone had a good time," said Terry (see below for proof).

ORIGINAL POST: It wasn't your everyday wedding party.

Oh, there was the lovely bride, and "Tex," the wealthy groom. Dinner, dancing, the garter toss and a wedding cake.

And also the pregnant bridesmaid, the quickly-sloshed best man, the mother of the bride telling everyone within earshot she wished her daughter had married someone else, "someone more like her brother." Ah, yes, the bride's brother: collecting the gifts and dates for later...

Mother of the Bride helps Best Man get ready

It was all in good fun -- and for a good cause. The Young Professionals of Racine staged the wedding party -- "My Big Fat YPR Wedding" -- as a benefit for HALO, the Bethany House Apartments, Safe Haven of Racine and the Women’s Resource Center. All 200 guests brought wedding gifts, many gaily wrapped, and bid on silent auction items donated by three dozen community sponsors.

Bride greets "family members;" what does groom see?

All the wedding gifts -- the crock pots, toasters, glass sets, appliances, blankets, cash and so on -- and all the proceeds from the silent auction will be distributed to the four recipient agencies on Friday. The event was YPR's sixth anniversary party, but the aim was to assist individuals who will soon be out on their own beginning a new life, often without many items typically associated with wedding gifts.

For the record, the bride was portrayed by Juliana Garcia, of Express Professionals; the groom was Jay Christie of the Racine Zoological Society. (He got the better of the deal; "Mom" was right.)

Best man was Chris Terry, of Carpetland USA, next year's YPR president; Maid of Honor was Tabitha Flores, of Express Professionals.

Bridesmaids were Angela Schott and Mandy Boroski, both of Leman USA. Groomsmen were Charlie Petrarch of The Party Company and Philippe Bisson of Bombardier Recreational Products.

Mother of the Bride was Loretta Olson of Express Professionals.

Dana Grueter, wedding planner extraordinaire

Guest J.J. McAuliffe forgot to wear pants

Best Man Chris Terry looked spiffy at first...

...but quickly fell victim to musical chairs and...?

What's a wedding without pictures?

Bride's "brother" taking care of business...

YPR hosting anniversary party to benefit local nonprofits

Here's a cool event from the Young Professionals of Racine. The group is hosting an anniverary party Thursday night and asking people who come to bring a "wedding present" to benefit local nonprofit organizations. Here's all the details, as written by Chris Terry of YPR:

The leaders of Young Professionals of Racine are optimistic that this year’s anniversary party will be remembered as more than just a party celebrating the organization’s sixth year of existence.

YPR is asking its members, and the general public, to bring a typical wedding gift or donation in lieu of an entrance fee for the celebration, which will begin at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 12 at Infusino’s Banquet Hall on Rapids Drive. The celebration, dubbed My Big Fat YPR Wedding!, will benefit HALO, the Bethany House Apartments, Safe Haven of Racine and the Women’s Resource Center. Dinner, dancing and a wedding cake will all be part of the celebration.

“One of our goals is to involve young professionals in the community,” said YPR Program Director Dana Grueter. “This event allows to not only be of service to some wonderful organizations in our community, but to introduce young professionals to what they do, as well.”

The organizations chosen were selected because they all assist individuals who, in the near future, will be out on their own beginning a new life, oftentimes without many items typically associated with wedding gifts, such as plates, silverware, pots, pans, toasters, microwaves, etc.

In addition to the donation of gifts and any financial contributions, many of YPR’s partner companies have donated items which will be included in a silent auction, again with all proceeds benefitting the four organizations.

“We expect to donate over $5,000 in gifts, financial donations and silent auction contributions to four great organizations in Racine,” Grueter said. “Also, we’re offering an amazingly fun networking opportunity for our young professionals in addition to letting them know about these organizations which do so much for the Racine community.”

YPR has had success in previous fundraising ventures, contributing $10,000 to the American Red Cross’ Hurricane Katrina relief effort in 2005 via the organization’s Hurricane for Hurricane Relief fundraiser.

Young Professionals of Racine is a membership-driven organization created in 2002 as a division of Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce as a vehicle to engage the next generation of Racine’s leaders. Founded by 12 enterprising professionals, the group has grown to more than 2,200 members representing more than 150 companies regionally.