Friday, November 22, 2013

Help San Francisco's Homeless Youth Get Glasses! Thursday December 19th from 12-4pm

This week, we received a stack of requests from homeless youth who need prescription glasses.  In response we've created a special Health and Vision event on Thursday, December 19th, from 12-4pm to provide at least 40 homeless youth prescription eye glasses and other needed services. 

In just two days, we've gotten confirmation that we'll be able to provide lunch, nurses, case work support from Project Homeless Connect's Every Day Connect, flu shots from Walgreens, books and toiletries and portraits at the event.

We're also hoping to provide hair cuts and other resources specifically for homeless youth. 

But, we still need your help to make our event a success. 
  • Donate Funds: We are able to provide individuals with prescription glasses for an average of $50/person.  You can support the project through crowd funding for the Homeless Vision Project or donating to our partner organizations (Welcome, SF CARES and Project Homeless Connect) and indicating that you want your funds to support prescription glasses.
  • Volunteer At An Event: Join us at our events.  We need volunteers to greet individuals, help serve lunch, to support other volunteers and to provide medical care (if you are properly trained and have met the standards of certification for the type of care you wish to provide).  Let us know you want to volunteer here.
  • Share our Project With Your Friends On Social Networking

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Vision Success Story

One of our participants stopped by today to show off their new pair of bi-focal glasses.  Check them out.



A big thank you to our partners and Project Homeless Connect and VSP for helping this individual get the eye glasses they desperately needed.

And thanks to all of you who are supporting our project. 

Glasses given out to date - 63

Sunday, November 10, 2013

November 10, 2013 Health and Vision Event at St. Paulus Lutheran Church, San Francisco, CA


Hear stories and see pictures from our event:


Of all our participants, the one that stood out to me the most was the individual who lost his glasses when someone set him on fire.  There is some real cruelty in the world.  But at our event, we did our best to also show that there is a lot of kindness and compassion in the world.  

Of our 39 participants, 22 got connected to prescription eye glasses with Project Homeless Connect, 18 visited with nurses and had their blood pressures checked and 3 received flu shots from Walgreens.

A big thank you to all the partners and volunteers who made today's event a sucess, including:
  • St. Paulus Lutheran Church
  • Welcome
  • Project Homeless Connect
  • Walgreens
  • SF CARES
  • The Castro Lions Club
Prescription glasses given out since our project began: 63

Monday, November 4, 2013

Welcome and The Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity to Partner on a Kona Vision Event

Today, I met with some of the leaders at the Southernmost Lutheran Church in the U.S., the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity (LCHT) in Kona on the Big Island of Hawaii.



LCHT has an amazing outreach program to the local homeless population called HERO. The project brings important essential to homeless individuals, including food, socks and other items. They also provide a large meal once a month and feed about 100 local homeless folk.


In February or March, our Kona Vision Event will provide a large meal, free prescription eye glasses for 40-150 individuals and provide other much needed health care for participants.

Since arriving to talk about the event, we've already had a local offer to pay the rental fee for a venue that is easily accessible to homeless and low income participants. Grants and donations will make it possible for Welcome to bring two traveling phoropters (the equipment needed to get eye glass prescriptions), but we need to start now to raise the funds for prescription eye glasses ($25-50 per person).

If you are able or willing to help, you can donate to Welcome online or mail or drop off a donation to the Lutheran Church of the HolyTrinity (77-165 Lako Street, Kailua Kona, HI 96740-2266). However you give, be sure to note that your donation is for the Kona Vision Event.

Also, please use this link, if you'd like to volunteer at our event or receive email updates  about this project.
Mahalo!

Pastor Megan Rohrer
Executive Director
Welcome