Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Volunteers Counting the Homeless

Hi All,
 
Suzie Tolmie of Metropolitan Development & Housing Agency (MDHA) and Dr. Streams have asked me to recruit volunteers to count the homeless population here in Nashville, in the early morning hours of Wednesday February 2.  It is important that we get an accurate number of those living on the street so our community will know how to serve them better.  This one-night tally is part of a national process that will gauge the extent of homelessness and help improve service delivery to this population.  While originally scheduled for this week, the count had to be rescheduled due to weather.
 
I will be participating with Nashville Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency for this census, as will Dr. Streams - and I hope you are able to do the same.  All volunteers will meet at 1:30am in the early morning of Wednesday February 2 and work until about 5:30am.  We will participate in a brief training session provided by MDHA and then split into teams to work.  Verizon Wireless has donated 175 fleece blankets that we will hand out with care packages during the count.  MDHA is very careful about volunteer safety – each of us will be placed with a team of four people that has experienced participants on it.
 
Our goal is to find six COMMITTED students to help; Dr. Streams will let you know if the slots have been filled and provide you with an information sheet and the final details of where to meet, plus a reminder email next week.  Please only volunteer if you can make a firm commitment to show up. I know these are odd hours but this is a once-a-year opportunity I am sharing with you.
 
IF YOU ARE WILLING TO VOLUNTEER SEND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION TO DR. STREAMS AT mstreams@tnstate.edu BY 5PM THURSDAY JAN. 27, and please copy me at lindsaygilmore@gmail.com
  • Your name
  • Email
  • Cell phone #
Any CPSUA student can volunteer.  For those students who are members of Nonprofit Leaders Association (NLA) and/or seeking the nonprofit certificate, please consider how service learning makes a difference in our communities and why we are educating ourselves about nonprofits.  If you are interested or want to know more about the census or NLA, please email me directly.  If transportation is an issue, I will make sure to provide a ride for you!  We need to show Nashville that the College of Public Service and Urban Affairs has a strong presence as public servants, and the NLA will answer the call to serve.
 
Hoping to hear from you,
 
Lindsay Gilmore