Volunteers Needed To Assist Homeless Count, Kaneohe Neighborhood Board Learns

Homelessness was an important focus of our December meeting.

In addition to giving our Person of the Year Award to woman who assists the homeless, Kathleen (K.C.) Connors, we learned about ways our community can help an upcoming count of homeless people.

Jen Stasch, director of Partners in Care, told us that volunteers are needed to ensure that the 2017 Homeless Point-In-Time Count succeeds. Among the jobs that volunteers can do are:

Lead a campaign to collect incentives, such as gift cards, to give to every homeless person who is counted.
Administer surveys to the homeless.
Provide support by hosting a count event, serving at a volunteer station or hosting a post-count reception, for example. 

The time when volunteers will be most needed is Monday, January 23, through Friday, January 27. That’s when volunteers and representatives of community agencies will visit unsheltered homeless individuals where they live on sidewalks, in camps and in other locations. The goal with each homeless person is to conduct a conduct brief, conversational survey. 

The information gathered in the surveys will be used to determine federal aid for Hawaii’s homeless and to help community agencies focus their work where it is most needed.

The 2016 count found 189 unsheltered individuals in our region. However, only one volunteer took part in the event in our region, when many more were needed.

To learn about volunteer opportunities for the 2017 count, click here. To sign up as a volunteer for the count, click here. Volunteers will receive two hours of training before participating in the count.

For more information, please contact Jen Stasch at jstasch@auw.org.