Hello All. I wanted to start our blog series by telling you a little bit, in my own words, why we are doing what we are doing.
We’ve all heard the rhetoric. The welfare state, people abusing EBT, SSI and section 8. I’m not here to talk politics but, I will tell you, from my own experience, how it really is for people who are homeless, or at risk of losing their homes. Our social welfare programs are designed to keep people down. You have to have practically nothing to your name before you can even qualify for the slightest bit of assistance. Then, if you seem to get yourself back together and start rebuilding your life, you lose all the services you depend on to live such as rental assistance, if not the home you live in all together, or Medicaid. There are people that are totally dependent on these programs, to the extent that they would lose everything all over again if they were disqualified to receive assistance.
What we are doing is taking care of what I believe to be the most important piece to rebuilding a person’s life, allowing them to gain a strong foundation for their own self-sufficiency. Just knowing that you could have a safe and stable place to sleep at night, every night for an entire year frees up a lot of stress and anxiety which only exacerbates all other problems. From this point, they can start the long road to recovery with the confidence that one small setback won’t completely unravel all the progress they’ve made thus far.
Restoring Pride hopes to accomplish exactly that. To restore the pride in one’s self as well as the LGBTQ community which can be proud that they are taking action to put an end to homelessness. It’s going to take all of you to meet this very achievable goal so please donate today.