Transitional Housing Room Refurbishment

Transitional Housing Refurbishment
November 3, 2007, 10:00 a.m. ~ 5:00 p.m.

The fastest growing group of homeless people in the U.S. is families, and ½ of homeless women are fleeing domestic violence (www.mediasauceclients.com/ACO/_pic/06002domvi/preview.htm). With this knowledge in hand, the social justice committee will honor our silent witness women by refurbishing one of the rooms in the Cleveland Transitional housing project. Transitional housing was started in 1986 by three nuns who remodeled the Travel Lodge on West 25th into sixty-two units to provide not only shelter but also life skills and job training to homeless women. Last year the congregation donated money and items for refurbishing a room. Twelve members volunteered one Saturday to transform a dreary, dark room to a bright, cheerful, finely decorated room to assist at least one woman make a change in her life.

November 3 (10:00 a.m. until we are done ~ 5:00 p.m.) we will gather at Transitional Housing, 1545 West 25th Street, Cleveland, www.transitionalhousing.org, 216-781-2250. Ken Schmidt and Dorothy Lemmey will purchase the paint, carpet, and lunch. We will need: painters, window washers, sanders, cleaners, and anything from the list below. Bring: painting clothes, brushes, rollers and rolling pans, cleaning supplies, and ladders. If you can’t come that day and would like to donate things from the list, bring them to church or Ken and Dorothy’s house, and they will get it there. After we have completed refurbishing one of the rooms, we will place a plaque outside the room. That plaque will match the plaques from the figures and say, “Refurbished by East Shore Unitarian Universalist Church in honor of the Lake County Silent Witness victims murdered by their intimate partners, November 3, 2007.”

Items needed: food (nonperishable), cleaning supplies (new and unopened), paper goods (new and unopened), kitchen items (new or gently used), linens and bath towels (new or gently used), clothing and personal care items, arts, crafts and sewing supplies, children and family supplies, computer center and office supplies, maintenance supplies, event passes and gift certificates, and furniture and household accessories.