Although this New Year is already three months old, I thank you for your generosity and support during the last calendar year. We could not have accomplished all that we have without you!
But another challenging year lies ahead.
In 2003, you helped us make another safe, decent and affordable home a reality for a person who had none. Unfortunately, there are many more people waiting for that opportunity. Affordable housing has become something of an oxymoron in Bergen County, indeed throughout the United States. You see, in the Bergen-Passaic area, where the median price of a home is $421,000, there are plenty of people who continue struggling to keep a roof over their heads. These are people like a divorced mother of four who had found our website and hoped that we could help her find affordable housing. This young single mother is working fulltime, but her landlord had raised her rent above the threshold at which she can squeak by. She had no choice but to move in temporarily with her mother who is on a fixed income and living in a one bedroom apartment. With four children the situation is untenable. But she cannot find any place that will accommodate her family's size and whose rent does not require her to obligate fifty percent or more of her salary. And there are too many others with circumstances just like hers, people whose income is not enough to cover the cost of housing. So our work continues…
Our successful second annual fundraiser, held in November, was a cabaret evening featuring Bobby Byrne. The Irish songster brought tears and laughter to the crowd with his witty monologue and song selection of such favorites as Danny Boy and America the Beautiful. A tasty and beautifully presented five course dinner was prepared by S.P.I.C.E., the Special Program of Instruction for Culinary Employment, a work training program for welfare recipients and out of school youths aged 18-21. The evening was a true collaborative volunteer effort, with servers including volunteers from Bergen County's Volunteer Center and students from Ramapo College, Ramsey and Waldwick High Schools and Immaculate Heart Academy.
The proceeds will help support our latest endeavor, the LINKS Project. LINKS is a permanent supportive housing project that will house eight homeless disabled individuals and adults with families. Residents of the program will be chosen from among people waiting in area shelters or transitional housing for a place they can afford to rent on their disability income. They will be screened by our partner agency, Vantage Health System (VHS), to ensure they are capable of living independently with supportive services provided. VHS will provide those supportive services, which will include such assistance as ongoing care for their disability, job training and placement assistance. And the residents will pay rent – thirty percent of their income - to live in the units.
Our first LINKS Project purchase is a one bedroom condominium located near the main shopping area of Englewood. After a week of cleaning, painting, making minor repairs and moving furniture, it was ready for occupancy. Its tenant, a young disabled woman living on $612 a month, has already moved in and is overwhelmed by the generosity evident in the careful preparation of the unit and the thoughtful donation of like-new furniture and household items. Her expressed appreciation and thanks is reward for us all.
This is a win-win solution to the revolving door of homelessness: rather than throwing money into a shelter system that does nothing to reduce homelessness, we are helping eight disabled individuals or adults with families to live independently and self-sufficiently and to maximize their potential for becoming contributing members of their community. Half of the money for the LINKS Project is provided by a matching grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The other half is being raised through a combination of grants and donations. Our cabaret evening took us a bit closer to meeting our fundraising goals but there is more to be done.
We need your help. For the next four units we need you to continue to be generous with your time, and once again help us make the minor repairs and improvements they will need; be generous with your unused belongings, and help us furnish them for someone who has no home; be generous with your checkbook, and help us cover the expense of repairs and improvements and the ongoing monthly housing costs.
Are you concerned that your donated dollars will not have a direct impact on a homeless person's life? Don't be. The DACKKs Group is an all-volunteer organization. 100% of your donation will go directly to purchasing and maintaining our five new properties. Please be as generous as you can. The lives of eight disabled homeless people and their families depend on it…..
A belated Wish for a Healthy and Prosperous New Year,
Karen E. Amy
President
March 2004