South Oakland Shelter

Virtual SOS Update

Thanks to all of you, Virtual SOS has far exceeded our goals.  We processed requests from 37 families who comprised of 97 individuals including 49 kids. Kids ranged in age from one month to 17 years old.  We posted requests for the 97 individuals online and someone signed up for every one of the line items by Monday morning, November 9.  That was two days before our last sign-up day of Wednesday, November 11.  In addition, we received donations (online or delivered to the church) of just over $8,000.  WOW!

All gifts were delivered from Wednesday, Nov. 18 through Saturday, Nov. 21.  The attached picture is Bob Treharne, Linda Busk, Greg Ulewicz, Deb Peltier and Jerry Peltier with their vehicles loaded with gifts for 25 families.

The most requested items were:  winter coats (45), shirts (29), pants (28), boots (27), gas or gift card (20), and socks (14).  Thanks to all of the generous donors who purchased items the families needed or donated money.

We used less than $150 for miscellaneous items like shaving equipment, some extra winter coats and miscellaneous personal items guests needed.  Our team met with Father Norm and agreed to use the funds for homeless charities in our area.  The charities that will be receiving donations are:

• Hope Warming Center (Helping Oakland’s People Everyday)
• Vets Returning Home
• St. Vincent de Paul (SEAS chapter)
• CarePax (Song and Spirit)
• Abigail Ministries
• Manna Community Meals
• Furniture Bank of Southeastern Michigan
• The Sanctuary For Youths

All of these charities have some affiliation with SEAS including either prior donations or providing volunteers to meet their needs.

Since our interviews with the guests three and one-half weeks ago, four families moved into permanent housing.  Several more families were only days away from moving into an apartment.

We called the families that received housing and delivered the gifts to their new location.  We dropped off four bags of gifts to one family of four (husband, wife, one boy and one girl) that moved into an apartment in Southfield.  They were all very excited to see what gifts we provided.  The lady insisted we wait until she woke up her husband who was about ready to leave for work to have him personally thank us.  The husband had some kind of job outside where he needed a warm coat with high visibility and he was very happy to see a bright warm neon coat typically used by DPW street crews.  The kids were all smiles to see new winter boots and asked mom if they could dig into some candy someone had placed in one of the bags.  They had no furniture and we could see they all slept on sheets and blankets on the floor.  They were scheduled to get some beds and furniture from the Furniture Bank of Southeastern Michigan within the next day or two. They wanted us to thank all of you for your generous gifts.

Another guest sent an email:  “I know you told me not to forget about myself, but the coats were more than I anticipated so with the $30 I had remaining I was able to purchase socks for us and some additional necessities.”

The SEAS Virtual SOS Team of Liz Coon, Deb Peltier and Bob Treharne

Virtual SOS Update
 
     Thanks to all of you, Virtual SOS has far exceeded our goals.  We processed requests from 37 families who comprised of 97 individuals including 49 kids.  Kids ranged in age from one month to 17 years old.  We posted requests for the 97 individuals online and someone signed up for every one of the line items by Monday morning November 9.  That was two days before our last sign-up day of Wednesday, November 11.  In addition, we received donations (online or delivered to the church) of just over $8,000.  WOW!
     We used about $200 for miscellaneous items like shaving equipment, some extra winter coats and miscellaneous personal items guests needed.  Our team met with Father Norm and agreed to use the funds for homeless charities in our area.  The charities that will be receiving donations are:
· Hope Warming Center (Helping Oakland’s People Everyday)
· Vets Returning Home
· St. Vincent de Paul (SEAS chapter)
· CarePax (Song and Spirit)
· Abigail Ministries
· Manna Community Meals
· Furniture Bank of Southeastern Michigan
· The Sanctuary For Youths
     All of these charities have some affiliation with SEAS including either prior donations or providing volunteers to meet their needs.
     As of the writing of this article, we have collected all of the gifts donated by SEAS parishioners and will be distributing them to SOS guests at their hotel/motel on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 19-21.  We will provide additional information on how that process went in a future bulletin article.
     The SEAS Virtual SOS Team of
     Liz Coon, Deb Peltier and Bob Treharne

Thanks to all of you, Virtual SOS has far exceeded our goals.  We processed requests from 37 families who comprised of 97 individuals including 49 kids. Kids ranged in age from one month to 17 years old. We posted requests for the 97 individuals online and someone signed up for every one of the line items by Monday morning November 9. That was two days before our last sign-up day of Wednesday, November 11. In addition, we received donations (online or delivered to the church) of just over $7,000. WOW! All donations will be used in direct support of homeless families in our area.

As of the writing of this article, we are preparing to collect all donated items at the church. Our plan is to deliver all of the items to the homeless families by Saturday, November 21. We will provide additional information on how that process went and how the donated funds were used in our next bulletin.

The SEAS Virtual SOS Team of Liz Coon, Deb Peltier and Bob Treharne

As of this morning, all items on the SOS list have a commitment from a parish family, and the effort has received $7,050 in financial donations.  As stated on the online giving page, all financial gifts received beyond the immediate needs being addressed by the SOS list will go to efforts to help homeless efforts in the parish, namely future SOS programs or aiding SVdP in the costs of finding permanent homes for the families in the SOS program who are eligible for housing.  This parish family is fantastic!

DROP OFF OF ITEMS:

• Please deliver your donations to the church November 12-14 (3-7 pm) or Sunday, November 15 (8:30 am until noon). 
• Make sure you note the Line Code (AB-2, CD-5, EA-1, etc.) as that is the only way we can track what you purchased back to the family member.
• Gift receipts are helpful where possible.

The signup for our Virtual SOS continues online through Wednesday, November 11.  A little over 100 homeless people, including 46 children, have been housed in small hotel/motel rooms in the area. A team consisting of Deb Peltier, Jerry Peltier, Joe Thilman, Greg Alonso, and myself (Bob Treharne) visited each room in four days (Oct 21 through Oct 24) and ascertained the individual needs of each person in the program. We then stripped out any personally identifying information and posted it online. We still need your support to complete this project. Thanks to all of you that have already signed up to support one or more members of the homeless community. As of tonight (11/1), we have 49% of the line items we need to support these families. With winter approaching (it even snowed today), many families are in need of boots, coats and other cold weather clothes. Please help if you can.

The link to the Google spreadsheet to donate one or more items for a family member is here: Donate Items

The link to donate money online to support this effort is here: Donate Money

You can also write a check to SEAS and put “SOS Donation” in the memo line and mail or drop it off at the Parish Office.

If you have any questions, call Bob Treharne at 248-561-2302.

Sign up NOW!

• This year, our parish will partner with the South Oakland Shelter (SOS) who is housing homeless clients in local hotels/motels.
• You can help to meet the individual needs of the clients
  • by signing up to donate items from Oct. 26-Nov. 11, or
  • by making a financial donation.

Click here to sign up to DONATE ITEMS: 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1QJvr2IdA3-YaL4psIV1IAecm84Jza_ZmaZoiy23jLEE/edit?usp=sharing

Click here to make a FINANCIAL DONATION:
If you just want to send money to support this project you can donate online by clicking on this link:
https://seas.weshareonline.org/ws/opportunities/2020SOSSouthOaklandShelterSupport/donate
OR
You can send a check to the Parish Office and mark "SOS Donation" in the memo line.
 

Read the full article below....

Since we cannot host the South Oakland Shelter (SOS) this year, we have developed a process we are calling “Virtual SOS” whereby we can assist homeless families with items SOS is unable to provide. SOS is currently housing 99 homeless people (including 46 children) in hotel/motel rooms in the area.  Through government funding and donations, SOS is providing three meals each day to everyone in the program.  We have worked with SOS staff to interview each family to determine what we can provide to each member of their family in a price range not to exceed $50 per person.
 
We have posted the wants/needs of each family member online in a Google spreadsheet.  We cannot provide names, motel/hotel location or anything that might identify an individual family but we have tried to provide a little information on each family.  We are asking you to access the online spreadsheet and signup to provide an item(s) for a family member.  Once you agree to provide the item (or items if they are small), you will need to purchase the item(s) and deliver it to the church November 12-14 (3-7 pm) or Sunday, November 15 (8:30 am until noon).  We will provide more information later on about the process for delivery of items to the church.  We will package the items and deliver them to the hotel/motel the week before Thanksgiving.
 
     To access the online spreadsheet to sign up to purchase an item(s) or to donate money to this project:
1. Go to the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton web site www.saintliz.org.
2. The banner near the top will scroll between different messages about things going on in our parish.
3. When the Virtual SOS message appears,  Click the Sign Up button in the message to go to the donation page.
4. Click the Donate Items link to access the online spreadsheet or click the Financial Donation link if you wish to donate money.  Note: To donate money you can also send a check to the Parish Office but be sure to write “SOS Donation” in the memo line.
5. If you chose Donate Items above, a Google spreadsheet will be displayed showing all of the items grouped by family that they have requested.  Each line item is a different family member.  You will see multiple items listed for most family members and you can decide which of those items you want to acquire.  You will be the only one to purchase anything for that family member.  Our target is to provide goods up to $50 per family member so you are not expected to provide everything listed.  You cannot change the item description.  Enter your name, phone number and email address in the space provided.  Make sure you note the Line Code (AB-2, CD-5, EA-1, etc.) as that is the only way we can track what you purchased back to the family member.  Gift receipts are helpful where possible.  We will email you a list of what you signed up for before November 12.  When done, just close the web page (there is no save).
 
Note, with cold weather here, many family members want winter coats and there are some very good deals at Burlington Coat Factory with some as low as $30 and others at $40, with very high-end name brands in the $60-70 range.  Meijer, Target, Walmart and Kohl’s may also have some good deals.
 
If you have questions, call Bob Treharne at 248-561-2302.
 
You have been overwhelmingly generous in your support for SOS.  This year has been a challenge for all of us.  With COVID-19, we cannot have the in-person support for SOS that we have provided for over 15 years but we can still continue to support the homeless in our area.  Thank you for your support for this parish outreach effort.
 
Your Virtual SOS team Members: Liz Coon, Deb Peltier and Bob Treharne
 

Prior to 2020, SEAS hosts a homeless shelter here from Sunday to Sunday of Thanksgiving week.  We provide for approximately 30 guests for seven days. Signup sheets are posted in the Social Hall beginning in early October with online registration also available.

The guests are given a place to sleep, eat, and enjoy activities provided by the generous gifts and talents of our parishioners.  There are many positions available from drivers, food preparation, food delivery, entertainment, and night watch.  

Coordinators:  Liz Coon, Bob Treharne, and Deb Peltier

To sign up, follow the directions listed below:

1. Enter your Name, Phone, and Email Address next to any item you want to sign-up for. 
2. Make sure you note the Line Code (AB-2, CD-5, EA-1, etc.) as that is the only way we can track what you purchased back to the family member.
3. There is no “save”.   Everything you type is automatically saved. 
4. When done, just close the web page.

Note:  while it is possible to sign-up using a smart phone, many people have found it difficult given how large the spreadsheet is and how small the screen is.

If you would like a list of everything you signed up for, send your request to setonssos@wowway.com and we will email you a complete list.

  By  coordinators Bob Treharne, Liz Coon, & Deb Peltier