Thanks to incredibly generous donations from more than 82 donors from our EG HART community, we raised more than $ 28,671 during the 24-hour Big Day of Giving 2023 - enough to support our three transition homes for most of the year!
Congratulations go out to Rebecca Davis who won the 2-night stay in a two-bedroom villa at the Marriott Grand Residence in South Lake Tahoe.
Rebecca (Becky) is a retired Elk Grove Unified School District administrator, a former President of Elk Grove Rotary, and a life-long supporter of a variety of Elk Grove community nonprofits. We are so excited to have this prize go to such a deserving person. Congratulations, Becky!
Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 2, 2024 when EG HART will participate once again in the regional Big Day of Giving fundraising campaign.
Until then, thank you from the bottom of our “HARTs” for your amazing generosity!
Elk Grove HART celebrated a "first" this year with the birth of baby Lilly in one of our transitional houses.
Lilly arrived on December 28th and she is thriving. Meanwhile, her mom plans for their upcoming move to the Gardens at Quail Run 2 Apartment complex.
Elk Grove HART board member, Dave Neves, has composed an original song in Lilly's honor. Please click the link below to listen and reflect on what "might have been" had Lilly's mom not found Elk Grove HART and supporters like you, who can make HART's work possible.
“Get a job” is a painful refrain that most of the unhoused have heard more than once. Not only did Lexie and Jacob actually have jobs, but they also were going to school full time. And Lexie found out this weekend that she made the honor roll, even while she was unhoused the entire time!
What does that look like? Every other day a $13 shower at a truck stop. Riding the light rail or bus during the day, getting off at midnight and then walking five miles to their jobs at the shipping company that started at 3:00 a.m. Then getting off work at 10:00 am to go to classes. Sleep for a couple of hours and start all over again. After three months of living outside, they were able to purchase a car. This at least gave them a sanctuary where they could sleep and keep their belongings.
Giving up was not an option. They wanted their children back. Not from the system, but from relatives who didn’t feel like living in a car gave children much security. A sad reality Lexie and Jacob knew was true.
HART met them at the Red Cross evacuation center during the floods. They had found a quiet place to sleep.Bundled up with blankets over their heads, they almost seemed invisible until one day they asked, “What about us?”
The beauty of HART is that we see each person and their situation individually. With federal money still available from Covid we were able to aid them by paying their deposit and the first month’s rent on an apartment. They now savor the warmth and hot showers on demand that once were hard to find. Their new apartment is fully furnished with gently used furniture from HART. They have a great place for their kids to live. After six long months, Easter was their first day together as a family.
We are so proud of them! Lexie will be done with school soon while Jacob has finished and is working at his externship. One day soon, the shipping company will be in their past and professional jobs will be theirs. We’re so glad that HART could be there to help give them a step up into their new home.
Please be a part of the Big Day of Giving to help encourage those who feel forgotten and abandoned to keep moving forward. We’re thankful that Lexie and Jacob will no longer have to hear the ugly command, “Get a job!”
Big Day of Giving is just around the corner on Thursday, May 4th! But the donation link is live NOW!
Her text read, "I just got the keys", but there was so much more to her story. Twenty years of domestic violence left her feeling no bigger than an amoeba. Yet her courage was awe inspiring. She said it was for her girls. Her two teenage daughters had witnessed their dad push their two-year-old brother down the stairs. They had watched their mom cower in fear, unable to defend herself or them from the onslaught of attacks. She had tried to leave once before after he broke her wrist but had no support and was too ashamed to ask.
With new resolve she stepped out of that door one more time, knowing that he would hunt her with a vengeance. One of HART's board members caught wind of her plight and reached out to her. HART put her and her family in a hotel that night and started looking for solutions, but we didn't have to look far. She was industrious, finding a good paying job and an apartment, but there was a glitch.
The day before her move in, the apartment complex refused to provide all the documentation necessary for her to access HART funds (grant money from the City of Elk Grove) to help with her deposit and first month’s rent. She was devastated. We were devastated! She had already paid to have PG&E and SMUD turned on. We had collected furniture for her new apartment. Now it all came to a screeching halt.
As we desperately started looking at other options, she refused to give up. The next morning, she drove to the apartment’s corporate headquarters to plead her case. They were closed. Dejected, she turned to walk away just as a woman walked out, a woman named Faith. After hearing her story Faith made a few phone calls and said it was all taken care of. The apartment was hers!
Over and over again she tried to express her elation, relief and gratitude. She said it best: "I jumped off a cliff and now I am flying!" She wants her children to live without fear and to grow up to be strong and courageous - just like their mom.
The Big Day of Giving is an opportunity to support people in our community who are struggling and have often lost hope. When they can barely stand, our dedicated volunteers help them learn to walk again.
Sending you our “HART-felt” thanks for your support of this year’s Big Day of Giving!
Thanks to incredibly generous donations from more than 90 donors from our EG HART community, we
raised more than $21,350 during the 24-hour Big Day of Giving 2022 - enough to support our transition
homes for most of the year!
Congratulations go out to David and Ginger Simpson who won the 2-night stay in a two-bedroom villa at the
Marriott Grand Residence in South Lake Tahoe. David and Ginger are long-time supporters of community non-profits and we are excited that this prize went to such a deserving couple.
Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 4, 2023 when EG HART will participate once again in the regional Big Day of Giving fundraising campaign. Until then, thank you from the bottom of our “HARTs” for your amazing generosity!
COVID-19 had taken its toll on her family. Her in-laws grew tired of having the children underfoot all day and soon the pressure of living together proved too much for them. They were asked to leave.
It was a terrifying time for Lindsey and her family. Her 8-year-old was scheduled for surgery for his spina bifida and needed a stable place to recover. Her 2-year-old needed a safe environment to simply be a 2-year-old. Fears of Child Protective Services taking both children loomed in the back of her mind 24/7. She kept her situation a secret from the kids’ school to protect them from being removed from her custody. She was desperate with nowhere to turn.
Then she found Elk Grove HART, and her fears were diminished. It was a perfect match. She and her family moved into the Meadow House, into 2 bedrooms and a Jack and Jill bathroom. She and her husband in one room and the boys in the other. The walk-in shower was handicap accessible which allowed them to bathe their son after his surgery. He made a beautiful recovery and is back to walking.
Lindsey found employment and worked from the house during the day while her husband worked at night. This allowed them to both work and care for the children while they saved money. They have stabilized and done a great job of saving. This month they will be moving into their very own apartment!
Starting fresh is an exciting prospect for them. Lindsey says she has learned so much from the HART program. She was never taught to work hard or to save her money. She feels the life skills she has acquired during her stay at the Meadow House will help her live a lifestyle she can afford.
We are so proud of the hard work Lindsey and her husband have put into being successful. Life lessons, not only for them, but for her children too, who are always watching. Her goal is to break the chain of generational poverty that has plagued her family. She is well on her way to doing just that.
Elk Grove HART isn’t just about housing people, it’s about changing the trajectory of their lives. Please consider being part of the solution and donate generously on the Big Day of Giving. The donation link is open now at https://bigdayofgiving.org/elkgrovehart.
Bundled up with blankets over their heads, they almost seemed invisible until one day they asked, “What about us?”
pport of this year’s Big Day of Giving!
It was a terrifying time for Lindsey and her family. Her 8-year-old was scheduled for surgery for his spina bifida and needed a stable place to recover. Her 2-year-old needed a safe environment to simply be a 2-year-old. Fears of Child Protective Services taking both children loomed in the back of her mind 24/7. She kept her situation a secret from the kids’ school to protect them from being removed from her custody. She was desperate with nowhere to turn.