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We are a 501c(3) non-profit organization; 100% of donations go directly toward providing services. Tax ID# 46-4162394

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We are a 501c(3) non-profit organization; 100% of donations go directly toward providing services. Tax ID# 46-4162394

Details: April 28, 2022

I couldn’t help but express my admiration for her, she had held it together for so long. Legally blind due to her Type 1 diabetes, she continued to work full-time and care for her 6th grader who was thriving. For 9 years she had paid rent on time and drove to Fairfield every day for work. Life was hectic, but good and stable.

In the blink of an eye, last July, her world caved in. Her landlord wanted $2,600 for the 3-bedroom condo she had been renting for $1,250. To avoid eviction, she and her daughter had no choice but to live in their car. She searched for an apartment, but finding one proved to be impossible. They required her income to be 3 ½ times the rent and great credit. She had neither.

Her health started to spiral as her stress level caused her to lose sleep, yet she continued to work. She knew she needed her income if there was any hope for their survival. Bow Street Apartments

On September 10th she found her safety net and moved into one of our transitional family homes. She was finally able to breathe. Living in a house with 3 other families wasn’t easy. She had lived independently since she was 18. She and her daughter lived in a 10 X 10 room. However, she chose to be grateful and to do everything in her power to move up and out.

To that end, she quit her job in Fairfield and is now working from the office in the transitional house. Her endurance, strength and courage has paid off. She and her daughter will soon be moving into the Bow Street Apartments that are subsidized by the City, through developer fees. They are thrilled to soon be in their own place again. To aide them, one of our dedicated Elk Grove churches will be helping them to furnish their new place.

HART believes in working with our community to help care for those who are struggling. Would you consider being part of the solution? Please give generously to Elk Grove HART on the Big Day of Giving.

Details: April 21, 2022

Cliff Picture Standing on the edge of a cliff can be terrifying, especially when your children are standing on the edge with you. Sadly, many families in Elk Grove are facing this situation. In the poverty world, the Cliff Effect is a term used for families that are working, healthy and their kids are thriving, yet they are one terrifying step away from a disaster. The loss of a job, housing, their health, divorce, or some similar life event, can push them off that edge. We are facing a new Cliff Effect in Elk Grove and throughout the region, a lack of housing.

The Situation

We currently have 6 families in our transitional houses that are doing all the right things, - working, saving money and have decent rental histories. Yet, the competitiveness of the rental market has left them floundering. Several are running out of time a 2022 Flyer t our transitional houses with nowhere to go. They are hovering on the edge.

The Solution: Your help!

The City of Elk Grove has come up with a generous, innovative landlord incentive program to help our clients., yet they continue to be upstaged by more qualified applicants. We are facing a new unhoused population of families in our city and we need your help. If you know anyone who has a rental available, please contact us. And, please continue to support EG HART so we can come to the aid of these families. An amazing 98% of your financial donation goes directly to our unhoused services. Please give generously to our Big Day of Giving!

Find more information regarding the Landlord Incentive Program here: https://www.elkgrovecity.org/city_hall/departments_divisions/housing_loans/affordable_housing/landlord_incentive_program

“Big Day of Giving is coming soon! We are pleased to share that we are once again offering incentives for donors! If you donate $50 or more, you will be entered into a drawing for a two-night stay (Sunday and Monday, May 29 and 30) in a two-bedroom,

three-bath (1150 square feet) luxury residence at the Marriott Grand Residence Club, South Lake Tahoe. This is a $1500 value! Each $50 in your donation will earn a chance in the

drawing - for example, if you donate $100 you will earn two chances!

Please visit Elk Grove HART | GivingEdge (bigdayofgiving.org) to donate.

Details: April 12, 2022

Thomas Cross My heart broke as they loaded Thomas yet one more time into the ambulance. One of the young fire fighters complained to me, “Can’t you do something about him?” But the reminder to just keep loving him rang through my head. 

For years we had tried to help Thomas. He had stayed in our transitional house, the Grace House, but after a couple of months lapsed back into drinking. A few years later he stayed in a SSHH house for a couple of months but was so inebriated every day that he was finally asked to leave. Sadly, there was no other option than to live outside.  Penny Pass

But his life style was hard on his body. Several times he landed in the hospital for a few weeks with broken bones from falling which was then followed by months in a rehab center learning to walk again. His most recent hospital stay was different though. In June he broke his femur and his kidneys were shutting down. He said he was tired of living on the streets. After a lengthy stay in the hospital with a couple of operations and then again in a rehab, we decided to give Thomas yet another chance at the Grace House. 

We are thrilled to report that his transformation has amazed us all. He is making these beautiful crosses for all of those that helped him while he lived on the streets. It is our hope that Thomas will soon be moving into the Shasta Hotel program in Sacramento where he can live out the rest of his life. 

It has taken our HART team and our police and fire departments to help give him a new start in life. Trying to fix him wasn’t the answer, but caring for him was. That is what makes the HART organizations different from government programs. There is personal care paid to our unhoused neighbors. We all need a friend that we can lean on.

HART’s Big Day of Giving is on May 5th. Please consider giving generously to help us end homelessness one person at a time.

Details: April 05, 2022

Big Day of Giving is March 5th. More details coming soon!

Save the Date 2022

Details: February 15, 2022

Have you heard the news? Elk Grove HART has been selected as the beneficiary of the Give Back Bag Program! Each time the $2.49 reusable Give Back Bag is purchased at the Save Mart at 9160 Elk Grove Florin Road in Elk Grove from February 15 to March 31, we will receive a $1 donation.

Save Mart Give Back Bag Program flyer

Details: November 23, 2021

The Elk Grove Overnight Warming Location (OWL) Cooperative is a network of city, service, and faith-based organizations operating overnight warming centers for those who need it.

December 1, 2021 - April 30, 2022*

* Operating dates are dependent on weather conditions. See website for details.

Learn more and sign up for notifications at:
elkgrovecity.org/owl

Details: May 04, 2021

Honestly, we didn’t have high hopes for him. His tumultuous childhood painted a bleak picture for his future.

His father had asked him to leave home at 16, feeling like he was enough of an adult to make it on his own. His mother was lost in the bottle somewhere in Texas. Starting his life in an orphanage in Russia, this was a familiar pattern of neglect and abandonment that he's experienced since birth.

HART met him through a school counselor when she discovered that he was living in a tent in a friend’s backyard. Now 18, he was eligible for HART to help him.

Before moving to Elk Grove, it was readily apparent he had lived in the South. “Yes ma’am, no ma’am”, always polite and respectful, so grateful for the help and shelter he got while at the Grace House.

With the diligent support of his mentor, he graduated from high school. We cheered him on and breathed a sigh of relief on graduation day. Now to find a job.

Again, his mentor worked tirelessly to help Hugo apply for multiple jobs. Follow-through was not his strong point. Landing a job on the assembly line at Apple was huge victory. But honestly, we all held our breath, expecting it wouldn’t last long.

Hugo proved us wrong. Not only has he been working for Apple more than a year, he's also been promoted and transferred to another facility out of state which is closer to his grandmother who still cares about him.

Mentoring is not an easy job, but Elk Grove HART’s dedicated volunteers have proven repeatedly the great value of walking with those who are struggling, encouraging them along the way. Hugo’s future looks bright because of his mentor that never gave up on him. A huge thank you to our amazing mentors!

Please give generously on May 6th, the Big Day of Giving, to help give others like Hugo a chance at success. https://www.bigdayofgiving.org/elkgrovehart

Details: April 30, 2021

Domestic violence is a crime littered with victims. In this case, a mother with four children.

It started out slowly. Over time, the aggression increased and so did the excuses at the emergency room. A bike accident, a fall, running into a cabinet ... until a doctor recognized there were too many injuries to be explained with these excuses.

She had tried to escape, even crawling through a fence to meet her social worker. Despite several calls to shelters, they could find no available beds. As she was crawling back through the fence, he caught her. More violence. For several weeks, he kept mom and the children his prisoners, never allowing them to leave the house. The one person who was supposed to love them preyed upon them, often bloodying them in his fits of rage.

The abuse went on for years; she has the scars to prove it. Child Protective Services finally intervened, and suddenly the children were gone. With the one thing mom had to live for now taken away, she became broken, a shell of who she once was. Still the abuse continued. Like many victims of domestic violence, she had come to believe the venom he spewed at her.

Desperately missing her children, divorce was the only way to get her children back. That last beating was so bad that it sent him to prison. She recovered and worked hard to get her children back, but soon found themselves without a home.

She now has her own cleaning business and is going to college, determined that the cycle of abuse ends with her. Mom and kiddos will soon be moving into a brand-new apartment, fully furnished by one of HART’s partnering churches. Mom is overwhelmed with gratitude and is starting to recognize just how valuable she really is.

Please give generously to HART on the Big Day of Giving to help us restore hope... for those who have lost all hope. You can donate here: https://www.bigdayofgiving.org/elkgrovehart

Details: April 27, 2021

Some say this is one of the worst housing markets in Sacramento County history. The shortage is so tremendous that you compete with 20 other applicants or more when you try to rent a place. Storm

She knew that to be true as she sat across the table from us, disheartened. After living in their rental house for 17 years she found herself homeless with her 25 year old disabled son. How could this happen? Apartments require credit checks on all adults who apply for housing. Her son had terrible credit because he had no credit. No one would allow her to explain. The rules are the rules.

The house she had rented was sold. Who could blame the owners? Housing prices are at an all-time high. That’s when Elk Grove HART stepped in. We explained that’s why we started HART 10 years ago, when the housing market was then at an all-time low.

HART caught her and her son from this free fall. She and her son will move into one of our transitional homes. There we will help her son establish credit and Mom build up her savings. Then we will help find them a safe, secure home where they can thrive.

This is a storm building on the horizon. The moratorium on evictions will soon be lifted and other landlords will sell their rental houses for above asking price. The result is more tenants scrambling with no place to go.

Please support Elk Grove HART on the Big Day of Giving as we reach out to help those who have no home. You can donate now at https://www.bigdayofgiving.org/elkgrovehart.