Volunteers plan to improve the lives of homeless people by providing resources at the annual “National Homeless Connect Day” to be held at the Glendale Armory from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Dec. 4.
The event will focus primarily on helping the homeless people in Glendale, but will also assist low-income families by providing employment assistance, child care services, counseling, veterans’ benefits, and health care referrals.
According to Natalie Komuro, executive director of Path Achieve Glendale, which is a service center created to end homelessness in the Glendale area, about 100 homeless people are expected to arrive at the “National Homeless Connect Day” and volunteers are urged to help out with the day’s events.
Volunteers who sign up can help out by being part of the set-up crew or by escorting the homeless to the various stations. Beside the manual work, volunteers can also participate in planning and coordinating different aspects of the event.
In addition to volunteers, donations are needed for the one-day event. Key items needed for donation include milk, cereal, dish soup, laundry soup, laundry dryer sheets and trash bags.
Some of the patrons and sponsors who have donated money to Path Achieve include First United Methodist Church of Glendale (which has donated $1,000 to $4,999), Calstar Motors Mercedes (which has donated $10,000 to $49,999) and Pacific BMW (which has donated $50,000 and higher).
Path Achieve’s main goal is to offer housing services in emergency shelter, transitional housing, or permanent supportive housing.
The emergency shelter helps homeless families and individuals with a safe, stable environment for 60 days from which they can actively pursue a case management plan leading to self-sufficiency.
The transitional housing provides clients with stable housing and case management services for up to two years.
The permanent supportive housing provides affordable housing for people with disabilities.
Since 1997, 70 percent of the shelter residents at Path Achieve have moved into housing at the end of a two-to-three month stay.
Path Achieve Glendale joined the PATH Partners family of agencies in July 2006, forging an effective new partnership to serve the homeless of City of Glendale.
The other agencies that will be present at the event include the Department of Social Services, Public Health Social Security Administration, Catholic charities and local hospitals among others.
The Homeless Coalition will hold the event at the Glendale Armory, located at 220 Colorado St.
