For Immediate Release:
January 27, 2011
Project Homeless Connect touches many
County staff and volunteers
offer goods, services to those in need
FREEHOLD, N.J. – Monmouth County’s annual Project Homeless Connect, a one-stop event to provide various health and human services for homeless residents or those who are on in danger of becoming homeless, was held this week in Asbury Park, Freehold, Keansburg and Red Bank.
“We offered a warm coat, assorted goods and a variety of health services to people,” said Freeholder Director John P. Curley, liaison to the county’s Department of Human Services. “Project Homeless Connect is the umbrella name for a nationwide effort to bring attention to efforts to end homelessness. This year we provided services to 527 individuals.”
“We connected with people by offering them help through many county and not-for-profit service providers,” Curley continued. “Coats, blankets and bed sheets are important and needed, but we also want to make sure that each person who needs and wants assistance is being helped.”
People without a permanent residence or who are at risk of being homeless were encouraged to participate. Attendees completed a very brief survey form before being provided food, clothing, free health screenings, employment resources and other services.
The count is part of an annual point-in-time survey of the homeless population in the New Jersey. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that such a count of the homeless be done every year.
“This was a unified effort to reach people who do not have a permanent shelter,” said Charles D. Brown III, director of the county’s Department of Human Services. “While county staff and volunteers gathered information at the four designated locations, others were collecting information about people housed at emergency and transitional housing agencies and coordinating efforts with municipal representatives to locate unsheltered individuals.”
Homeless individuals and families already in shelters throughout the county – transitional housing, emergency housing, motels, hotels, boarding homes, etc. – number about 500 on any given day. They are not included in the totals from the four locations.
The primary goal of Project Homeless Connect is to gain an accurate picture of the number of people who experience homelessness and to work toward providing them with needed services, Brown said.
“Donations of time, space and resources by businesses and not-for profit groups make the Project Homeless Connect event possible,” Curley said. “We have a very caring community and we appreciate the time, talents and goods that make a positive impact in the lives of people who seek these services.”
Organizations that donated time and resources for Monmouth County’s 2012 Point In Time Survey and Project Homeless
Connect include:
Affordable Housing Alliance
ARC of Monmouth, Tinton Falls
Asbury Park Social Services
Brookdale Community College
Burlington Coat Factory
Catholic Charities – Linkages
Check Mate, Inc.
Child Care Resources
City of Asbury Park
Colts Neck Reformed Church
Community Health Law Project – Asbury Park
Comprehensive Emergency Assistance System (CEAS)
Costco – Ocean Twp.
Dunkin Donuts – Freehold and Red Bank
DYFS
Easter Seals NJ - Ft. Monmouth
Family & Children’s Services
Family Promise of Monmouth County, Shanna Goldstein - Site Coordinator for Red Bank
Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties
Frank’s Deli – Baked Goods
Freehold Area Open
HABcore, Inc.
Habitat for Humanity
Hispanic Affairs & Resource Center
Holiday Express
I Beseech Thee Community Development Corp.
Interfaith Neighbors – Nancy Flanigan, Heather Schulze and Catherine Wieczorek, Site Coordinators for Asbury Park
Investors Savings Bank
JBJ Soul Foundation
JCP&L - coats
J and B & Sons Food Service
Jersey Shore Rescue Mission
Jersey Shore University Medical Center
Joy Panizzi – DYFS – Coat Drive
LADACIN Network
Lunch Break in Red Bank
Manna House - Peggy Comfort, Co-Site Coordinators for Freehold
Meridian Health – Coat Drive
Monmouth A-Team
Monmouth Cares
Monmouth County Human Services Advisory Council
Monmouth University
Monmouth County Department of Human Services
• Division of Aging, Disabilities and Veterans Services
• Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services
• Division of Social Services
• Division of Planning and Contracting
Monmouth County Division of Workforce Development
Monmouth County Buildings & Grounds – General Trade Office
Monmouth County Community Development
New Beginnings Agape Christian Center
New Creations in Christ/Monmouth A-Team
New Jersey City University - Cheryl Leiningen, Assistant Professor and accelerated BSN Students, Wall NJ Campus
New Jersey Department of Labor-One Stop Center
New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
New Jersey Housing & Mortgage Finance Agency
New Jersey Natural Gas
New Jersey Youth Corps – Asbury Park
Novadebt, Freehold
180, Turning Lives Around
O.C.E.A.N, Inc. – Heather Matos - Co-Site Coordinators for Freehold and in charge of all coat pick-ups and deliveries to the warehouse
Ocean Monmouth Legal Services
One Warm Coat
Panera Bread, Middletown
Paul M. McGuire Family Health Center
Pilgrim Baptist Church of Red Bank
Regional Perinatal Consortium
Salvation Army, Asbury Park
St. Mark’s Soup Kitchen, Keansburg
Social Security Administration
Soul Kitchen in Red Bank
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Target - Manalapan
The Center in Asbury Park – George Lowe, Medical Team Leader
United Way of Monmouth County
VNA Health Group
Various Ministries
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Wegmans - Manalapan
Winifred Canright House
WWRD
*donors list updated 1/31/2012