You Can Take the Wheel With One of Our Biggest
Program Contact Information Hello House for Men 617-262-7142 Hello House for Women 617-471-6616 Next Step Apartments for Men 617-262-7142 Shiloh House for Women 617-471-6616 Concord Park Assisted Living 978-369-4728 Nashoba Park Assisted Living 978-772-0707 Rebound Adolescent Treatment Center 617-770-0453 Casa Isla 617-390-0273 Face Forward 617-659-2281 Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center 617-627-9712
You Can Take the Wheel With One of Our Biggest Challenges People come to us with very little, least of all money for navigating the city to manage doctor appointments, employment interviews, therapy, and educational opportunities. Although our clients can count on the support of staff and case managers to help them with their transportation needs, it cannot always be their primary focus. As an example, women in the crucial stages of recovery at the Hello House for Women’s program have jobs to get to. “A lot of clients come into the program with no money at all and can’t even afford public transportation costs, so they go out on job searches without a T pass,” says Annette Geldzahler, Program Director of Hello House for Women. In the same way, veterans working hard to transition out of the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center have therapy sessions and doctors’ appointments to attend and they need a reliable way to get there. Because of the location of some of the programs, clients depend on program vans 100% of the time. Other programs need vans but don’t have the budget to purchase them. For the programs without vans clients require Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) passes, which are more often than not difficult to afford.
Veterans Employment Network 617-629-5313
In the case of the dozens of clients in our Boston Long Island programs, the vans are the only way of getting on and off the island. With such high use, these vans are worse for wear and though they’re functioning now, they require constant maintenance and in the near future will have to be discontinued and replaced.
Supportive Services for Veterans Families 617-390-0232 The Family Center 508-822-4027
Every cent of your donation makes a huge impact on the everyday needs of our clients including transportation. The $5 you give could mean a day of job-searching for a veteran—a larger gift could be the catalyst for a new van at the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center or the Hello House for Women’s program. Either way, you can take the wheel with this challenge. To make a donation to help clients with the cost of transportation go online at: www.voamass.org or call us at: 617.390.0228.
Cont’d From pg. 1
Hope Matters is published semiannually by Volunteers of America Massachusetts. If you prefer not to receive this publication please contact VOAMASS at: 617-390-0228.
441 Centre St | Boston, MA 02130
www.voamass.org
2
In all, the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center makes it possible for him and the other veterans to have enough stability to confidently seek out jobs (now that they have an address) and pursue long-term goals (now that they have trained staff on-call to guide them). Since its inception, the goal of the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center was to serve as an anchor for social services and recovery support for homeless veterans. Because of the constant generosity and compassion of the Volunteers of America Massachusetts community, the center has already seen numerous victories, from veterans being hired after years of unemployment to finally receiving the mental health treatment they knew would make a great difference in their lives. Here’s to many more victories.
You Can Take the Wheel With One of Our Biggest Challenges People come to us with very little, least of all money for navigating the city to manage doctor appointments, employment interviews, therapy, and educational opportunities. Although our clients can count on the support of staff and case managers to help them with their transportation needs, it cannot always be their primary focus. As an example, women in the crucial stages of recovery at the Hello House for Women’s program have jobs to get to. “A lot of clients come into the program with no money at all and can’t even afford public transportation costs, so they go out on job searches without a T pass,” says Annette Geldzahler, Program Director of Hello House for Women. In the same way, veterans working hard to transition out of the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center have therapy sessions and doctors’ appointments to attend and they need a reliable way to get there. Because of the location of some of the programs, clients depend on program vans 100% of the time. Other programs need vans but don’t have the budget to purchase them. For the programs without vans clients require Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) passes, which are more often than not difficult to afford.
Veterans Employment Network 617-629-5313
In the case of the dozens of clients in our Boston Long Island programs, the vans are the only way of getting on and off the island. With such high use, these vans are worse for wear and though they’re functioning now, they require constant maintenance and in the near future will have to be discontinued and replaced.
Supportive Services for Veterans Families 617-390-0232 The Family Center 508-822-4027
Every cent of your donation makes a huge impact on the everyday needs of our clients including transportation. The $5 you give could mean a day of job-searching for a veteran—a larger gift could be the catalyst for a new van at the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center or the Hello House for Women’s program. Either way, you can take the wheel with this challenge. To make a donation to help clients with the cost of transportation go online at: www.voamass.org or call us at: 617.390.0228.
Cont’d From pg. 1
Hope Matters is published semiannually by Volunteers of America Massachusetts. If you prefer not to receive this publication please contact VOAMASS at: 617-390-0228.
441 Centre St | Boston, MA 02130
www.voamass.org
2
In all, the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center makes it possible for him and the other veterans to have enough stability to confidently seek out jobs (now that they have an address) and pursue long-term goals (now that they have trained staff on-call to guide them). Since its inception, the goal of the Massachusetts Bay Veterans Center was to serve as an anchor for social services and recovery support for homeless veterans. Because of the constant generosity and compassion of the Volunteers of America Massachusetts community, the center has already seen numerous victories, from veterans being hired after years of unemployment to finally receiving the mental health treatment they knew would make a great difference in their lives. Here’s to many more victories.
