The leaves are falling with a vengeance. Pine needles cover the roads. It is fall here in beautiful downtown Brattleboro, Vermont. Every year we have supported our local homeless shelter here in Brattleboro. When the leaves fall I get anxious for the many women and children out there, living on the river-bank of the Connecticut, grazing through the trash cans and being supported by local churches to one hot meal a day. That program starts when the weather is really beginning to drop in temperature.
It is not easy to break this cycle of homelessness, but our shelter offers many programs to break out of that very vicious economic and psychological state. Once admitted to the program and admitted to the shelter, if the person stays committed to sobriety/or drug-free existence, they have free medical care as well as care for their children. An after-care program supervises their progress into independent housing, budgeting and educational support. I have heard of many testimonies that brought them to productive lives and valued citizens.
Bill and I have both served on the Board of the Morningside Shelter here in town. Bill looks over their financials, still. I have restricted myself to give them moral support and to help raise money for this worthwhile cause, sometimes making vegetarian lasagna for an evening meal. This October, my daughter and I hiked up Wantastiquet Mountain during the shelter’s annual Hike for the Homeless. It was not raining, but a bit slippery from the night’s precipitation. We persevered to reach the pinnacle! Some of those tricky short-cuts my daughter chose were steep and sometime treacherous! (I fell only once on our way down.)
We encourage you to be generous with a gift to those less fortunate than we are living among us. My daughter, Andrea, Bill and I appreciate your support.
Donate by mail: Please make checks payable to Morningside Shelter, and send to Inn Partners, P.O. Box 1162, Brattleboro, VT 05302.
Donate by phone: Call us at (802) 257-2360 to pay by credit card (Inn Partners will contribute the transaction cost).
Donate securely online: Visit https://secure.donationpay.org/morningside/
Thank you for your consideration,
Andrea Viens, Bill and Heide
