Warming Centers - City of Fort Smith
Volunteers Needed for the Annual Point in Time Count
Honor and Duty 5K June 4, 2022
Southern Nights Fundraiser
Sharon Chapman, New Executive Director
We need an additional $100,000. Please consider making an early donation. Together, we can provide a warm, welcoming place for men who served our country.
Sadly, 20% of all Americans facing homelessness are military veterans. Supportive housing is an important tool in providing these veterans with a hand-up. Next Step Day Room has successfully served military veterans at our first supportive home, Gabriel House, through a contract with the Veterans Administration. Our VA contract called for four beds. The VA later asked for five more beds. In late April 2011, the VA asked for still another bed. We have run out of beds.
So, we must build. By transferring our VA contract to the Buddy Smith Home, we can return to helping men facing homelessness at Gabriel House who have not served in the military but who are also in need of a hand-up so that they can “take their next step”.
The Buddy Smith Home will have 16 bedrooms and be located on North 9th and E Streets. With a bedroom for a live-in Resident Assistant, ten bedrooms will be dedicated to our military veterans and the remaining bedrooms available to non-military men. For a donation of $5000, you can sponsor a bedroom with a bronze door plaque that commemorates your commitment to ending homelessness.
Any gift will be greatly appreciated. Your gift will be integral in helping us build a home worthy of the men who were worthy enough to wear our country’s uniform. These veterans come from all walks of life. There are no formulas for predicting which men will end up without a place to call home. Please help us. We’re almost there. Let’s take this “next step” together.
Sincerely,
Dan Maher, President NSDR Board of Directors
Lance Fisher, Executive Director
Paula Glidewell, Chair, Community Affairs
Linda Gabriel, Development Director
