According to the National Coalition for the Homeless, an estimated 38% of the homeless population are alcohol-dependent while 26% are drug independent. Here is an excellent resource that gives relevant information for individuals and families struggling with substance abuse.
The Ohio Recovery Center provides clinical support for patients undergoing substance abuse. Some of the treatments they provide include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Contingency Management, and Motivational Enhancement Therapy, to name a few. If you are interested in learning more about the work they do, click here.
Hello everyone,
The stress and life difficulties that can come from living with PTSD can place a person at greater risk for turning to drugs or alcohol to numb, repress, or cope. Here is an excellent website that provides up-to-date, accurate, and evidence-based information related to mental health. Feel free to pass this information along with anyone you know who is struggling with PTSD.
For more information, check out Ark Behavioral Health. They do amazing work with helping people who have substance abuse, using individualized treatment plans to address the underlying causes of their addiction.
Hello all,
Wow, what a year 2020 has been so far! As much as we think that we have it tough, there are always families who are having it worse than we are. I am going to post a few links of reliable organizations that are doing fantastic work on providing relief to those who are the most affected.
International Rescue Committee
International Community Foundation
Bonus: More than anything, COVID has had a toll on our mental health. If you want to learn more about mental health services, click here.
Don’t forget to wear a mask. There are more and more studies showing that wearing a mask & frequently washing hands will significantly reduce the risk of catching the virus.
Hello everyone,
One of our supporters sent me a great link on creating backpacks with all the essentials that you can give to someone in need. Although quite economical, it includes all the items related to clothing, food, survival gear, and hygiene. Please click on this link below:
How to Create a Backpack for the Homeless, including Detailed Contents List
Bonus: How to Organize a Food Drive (including step-by-step instructions)
Thank you for all your support and kind actions. Always remember to count your blessings.
Hello wonderful people,
Below is a comprehensive resource guide on homeless veterans that was just published today. I hope it is of great benefit to those who wish to lend a helping hand.
Hello everyone,
For those of you who are single parents, divorced, or know others who are in a similar situation, here are some links that might be of great benefit. Please pass along and share to anyone who is going through such a situation. Sometimes all we need is someone who can be there for us and can guide us when we feel the weight of the world upon us.
Single Parent's Guide to Buying a Home
Single Father's Guide to Addiction and Recovery
Breaking the news of divorce to friends and family
Single Parent Resources for Starting a Business
Here is an extensive resource guide that helps children through a divorce: Children & Divorce
Hello Everyone,
Here are some additional resources on homelessness for those either struggling with paying for housing and food or for those wanting to lend a helping hand. Remember, even if you can help one person or one family, it creates a world of a difference.
6 Charitable Resources for those Struggling to Pay for Housing and Food
Facts and Resources on Student Homelessness
What to Tell Your Kids When Losing Your Home
And for the pet lovers: Pets of the Homeless
Hello everyone,
I recently received an email from a wonderful person who is currently doing work on facilitating resources to secure housing for homeless veterans. For those of you who want to give a helping hand, below are a few that might be of great benefit.
List of Housing Resources throughout the U.S.
Resources for Homeless Veterans in the U.S.
Additional housing and medical resources for homeless veterans
Apartments for Rent for Service Members in the U.S.
And if you are located in the UK, here is a great website that helps connect homeless people sleeping on the streets to local services and support.
Here's a crazy statistic: According to the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, there are over 500,000 people who are currently homeless in the United States. Click on the Homeless Shelter Directory for more info.
You cannot even fathom that many people without a home, living day-by-day with the compounding stresses involved with feeling like an outcast to society.
But the silver lining is that no action is too small to make a difference. This post is for those of you who want to lend a helping hand to the homeless and want to know the different ways you can make an impact on the homeless community.
13 Essential Items You Never Thought to Donate to Those in Need
Helping Runaways and Those Suffering From Drug Abuse
Former Homeless People Share their Advice on the Best Way to Help the Homeless
The Ultimate Guide to Turning Your Home's Yard into a Community Garden
And for the animal lovers out there: 10 Incredible Ways To Help Homeless Animals Without Adopting Them
Remember, no one has become poor by giving.
For those of you interested in volunteering abroad in South America and Southeast Asia, here is an organization worth looking at. Whether you are willing to teach English and French, work at an orphanage, volunteer at an organic farm, care for the mentally/physically disabled, and/or advocate for animal welfare, this would be a great opportunity to immerse yourself in not only exploring the world and learning new cultures, but also in dedicating your time to helping the less fortunate and disadvantaged. Regardless of our inherent passions in serving the world and fighting for injustice, we always need those times to refresh ourselves of the change we wish to enact in this world. For more info on the programs they offer, click here.
The organization is founded by like-minded youth who come from diverse backgrounds and have passions in cultural diversity, advocacy, and social inequality. For more info on the board, click here.
Both Converse and ShoebizSF have collaborated to create a special series of Converse sneakers that celebrate iconic moments in San Francisco's history, such as the Earthquake of 1906, the Gold Rush, and the Golden Gate Bridge (shown respectively from left to right).
100% of all proceeds will be donated to Youth Against Poverty which we will donate to Compass. The money will support homeless and impoverished working families in San Francisco at a time when the shelter waiting list is at an all-time high.
Date of Release: 8/30
Location: Shoebiz/Dinostore 1553 Haight St, SF ca 94117
Price of Shoe: $60
Youth Against Poverty is gearing up for a whole month of helping pets get adopted! Our organization will be taking part in DoSomething.org's Pics for Pets Campaign. This project will be utilizing social media in an effort to help share animals in our local shelters. This added exposure will help to spread the word about these animals looking for a new home. These photos of animals are often accompanied by a short description of the pet's personality and the shelter where they are currently being housed. For every 400 shares, DoSomething.org will donate much-needed supplies to the participating shelters. We are looking forward to participating and encourage all of our supporters to check out this great campaign: http://pics.dosomething.org/
Be sure to keep up with YAP's efforts via social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Against-Poverty/120734315517
Twitter: @YouthAgainstPov
Thank you for your continued support!
Youth Against Poverty is excited to announce our newest Corporate Partnership with Atayne! Atayne is a sports and outdoor apparel business that is rooted in making a positive impact in the community. All of their products are made in the United States out of 100% recycled material. Atayne also focuses on worker safety by not utilizing harmful chemicals in their manufacturing process. This Certified B Corporation sells active gear for men and women as well as custom products for specific events. We are looking forward to featuring social good company Atayne clothing in our pop-up charity store this August. Youth Against Poverty encourages all of our supporters to visit their website, https://www.atayne.com/
Youth Against Poverty's corporate partner Shoe Biz SF is supporting our pop-up store this August. We are very excited to hear from this local business that "Shoebiz will be 100% behind this event". This dedicated company has donated products to some of our previous events, such as the pop-up shoe store we held last summer in Los Altos. Even with their busy schedules and opening of a new store in Blackhawk Plaza, Danville, Shoe Biz has still remained involved and supportive of Youth Against Poverty's projects. We greatly appreciate the generosity of Shoe Biz SF and their tireless dedication to alleviating poverty. We encourage you to learn more about the business here: http://www.shoebizsf.com/
Youth Against Poverty's Executive Board met today to discuss the upcoming pop-up store this August. Our agenda included developing a new logo, seeking more corporate partnerships and improving the upcoming store. Our goal with every new project is to build off of benefits in the past. For example, we thought that having more incentives and appeal to windowshoppers would be a great way to improve sales. We also discussed possible attention-grabbers to help attract more customers. Everyone is energized from this last board meeting and hope that all of our supporters are also excited for the latest pop-up store this August!
The hard-working board at Youth Against Poverty has decided to reschedule the pop-up charity store to this coming AUGUST. We believe that this will be a greater opportunity since we can have an event during the "Back to School" shopping period. We will have the same beneficiaries and the drive to collect art supplies for the DoSomething.org/Art Feeds collaborative project. We are excited for another event to support Haitian orphans and San Franciscan families, trying to tackle both local and global poverty issues! We will announce dates and location ASAP. Thank you all for your continued support!
We continue to appreciate and work with amazing corporate partners like Converse, Reebok, Adidas and Puma, but we recognize the need to expand our company outreach. It is important to have diverse products and ensure that we do not exacerbate the generosity of our amazing partners! If you are a company seeking a charitable way to utilize overstocked, out of season or sample products, or could recommend a company that is, please contact Amanda Chavez at amandachavez2013@yahoo.com.
Youth Against Poverty is excited to announce that we will be holding another one of our signature "pop-up" charity stores! Once again, all of our products will be donated from our generous corporate partners and a volunteer staff will operate the store.
One unique twist on this event is that it will be a joint fundraiser. Our proceeds will go to benefit both our local and global community. Our local partner is Compass Family Services, an organization based in San Francisco that helps provide services such as counseling, childcare and matching permanent housing to economically disadvantaged families (http://compass-sf.org/). Our other partner is Global Family Philanthropy, an Arizona-based nonprofit working to improve the living situation and health of orphans in Haiti (http://globalfamilyphilanthropy.org/). We will be supporting their efforts to build and run a successful clinic in North East Haiti.
We will also be holding an art supplies collection drive through DoSomething.org's Healing Oklahoma initiative. This drive will be providing unused supplies for on-the-ground organizations in Moore, Oklahoma. The children affected by the tornado will receive free access to theraputic and educational artistic programs to help recover from the trauma that they have faced (http://www.dosomething.org/ok).
We are excited for this new project, and encourage you to return to this website as well as visit our Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Against-Poverty/120734315517?fref=ts) and Twitter (@Youth AgainstPov) often. We will announce the dates and location of the next "pop-up" charity store ASAP.
All of us here at Youth Against Poverty are excited for some new projects and goals! One way to help expand our outreach is through developing social media. We encourage our supporters to check out our new Twitter (https://twitter.com/YouthAgainstPov) and see the developments on our Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Youth-Against-Poverty/120734315517?fref=ts) We really appreciate your continued support for our organization! Our work would not be nearly as effective without your constant actions and encouragement!
