GivingTuesday campaign focuses on housing instability
November 21, 2023
| By La Crosse Community Foundation |
La Crosse Community Foundation and Great Rivers United Way launch effort to keep people sheltered and in their homes this winter
With the arrival of winter and the area’s limited options for safe shelter and housing, La Crosse Community Foundation and Great Rivers United Way announced a joint effort today to keep local community members safe and sheltered this season.
With a third of La Crosse area residents facing housing instability, leaders of the two organizations kicked off the Give Warmth campaign, seeking to raise $50,000 in community funds to equip nonprofit organizations that keep struggling community members in their homes and sheltered this winter.
The funds will go to the REACH Center, a walk-in resource center offering housing navigation, homeless prevention, mental/AODA support, healthcare, and violence prevention and support in one location. REACH would then disburse funds as needed for clients working with the center’s partner organizations, including Couleecap, the La Crosse Area Family Collaborative, Independent Living Resources, the School District of La Crosse, La Crosse Area Family YMCA, New Horizons Shelter and Outreach Centers, The Salvation Army La Crosse, Catholic Charities La Crosse, and YWCA La Crosse.
La Crosse Community Foundation and Great Rivers United Way have each pledged $10,000 to triple the first $10,000 in gifts on GivingTuesday.
There are some common misconceptions about people who are struggling to find and keep roofs over their heads,” said Nancy Parcher, community health supervisor at La Crosse Area YMCA, a REACH partner. “We have families in our community with parents working three jobs between them and still only barely exceed the federal poverty level. Then after they pay $1,200 for the lowest-cost apartment they can find and pay for child care so they can work, there’s nothing left for food, transportation or health care.
“Being unsheltered has nothing to do with choice. No one chooses unstable housing or to be left out in the cold, especially in precarious or undignified conditions. It isn’t about preference; it’s about facing tough, sometimes impossible situations.”
Another misconception is that many people assisted by these agencies are not from the local area.
“Studies show that 70% to 80% of unsheltered people in our community originate from the local area or resided here for at least a year before losing their housing,” said La Crosse Community Foundation CEO Jamie Schloegel. “Give Warmth is about helping fellow community members who are veterans, parents, children and students, senior citizens, and people fleeing domestic violence. Too often, we don’t realize that when we’re working to keep community members in their homes and sheltered, we’re working to help neighbors, fellow students, families and coworkers who belong here and have fallen on difficult times.”
To illustrate how funds will be used — and how donations of all sizes matter — Mary Kay Wolf, executive director of Great Rivers United Way, noted that a gift of $50 can buy a week’s worth of basic groceries for someone fleeing domestic abuse.
• $100 can get a pair of steel-toed work boots to ensure ongoing employment and safety at work.
• $250 shelters a mother and her child for two nights at a local emergency shelter.
• $500 provides new tires for a working family to be able to get to everyone to school and work.
• $750 means a month of rental assistance for a one-bedroom household.
• $1,000 pays for a month’s worth of childcare so parents can go to work.
“Every dollar counts in our mission to uphold the dignity and stability of our neighbors,” said Wolf. “We’re working to do more here than address a seasonal challenge; we’re nurturing a vision of a community where everyone has the opportunity to live safely and thrive, regardless of their current circumstances.”