La Casa Hogar

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September Experience - Español Rápido is Coming to La Casa Hogar

September 8-12, 2008

We have a great opportunity to host this wonderful Spanish learning program.>

What: Intensive Spanish Immersion Classes 7 hours per day, (beginner to advanced beginner level)
Where< La Casa Hogar, 106 Sol 6th Street

Cost: $695 per person, company discount for groups of three or more.

If you would like to talk with previous participants let us know. Click here for additional information about the program

E-mail today to reserve your place. Space is limited
spanishclasses@lacasahogar.org

June 2008 Bits of News

Read about how the new Español Rápido program, a visit to Holden Village by several La Casa Hogar women, our upcoming July 26th Yard Sale, and more ! - June 2008 Bits of News [ pdf 208 KB]

2007 Annual Report

Download the 2007 Annual Report [ 13.28 MB]

Connecting Communities

La Casa Hogar’s “Signature” annual fund raising event, featuring a silent auction, entertainment and a delicious dinner.

AN AUTHENTIC COMMUNITY FIESTA
May 18, 2008, Mighty Tieton
Key sponsor: RBC Dain Rauscher

Tickets will be $50 each, or fill a table (10) for $500. Special “Friends Of La Casa” tables are $1000. We are also welcoming donations for the Silent Auction. Please call our office if you have any questions.

Special thanks go to RBC Wealth Management who have stepped up
to support our mission by underwriting a large part of the event.

To be an Event Sponsor or host a “Friends of La Casa” table
Contact us: 509-457-5058 or email: carole@lacasahogar.org

Emergency Services has moved

Our service address is now 107 So. 6th St.
(Across the street from the La Casa Hogar)
Phone: 249-6232, Fax: 249-2800

Emergency Services Hours
9 -12 pm & 1 - 4pm

Through vouchers we assist with the following services.

Bus passes regular ( we will be asking clients to help with a $5.00 contribution towards the $17.00 bus pass), and $5.00 reduced fair/disabled bus pass, until the 10th of the month, after which single tickets are available
Medications with prescriptions, (no narcotics or pain medicine
I.D. and Drivers license fee
Electrical final notice $25
Water final notice $25
Natural gas final notice $25
for utilities client must pay outstanding amount less $25 before receiving service)
Propane for heating usually 5 gallons
Community information and referrals

Beginning February 1, 2008, we will no longer be issuing gas vouchers. We will be encouraging clients to take advantage of our monthly bus passes.

We also provide for people who are homeless emergency vouchers for the above services. Needs and requests are evaluated individually on a case by case basis and may include assistance for obtaining and maintaining housing.

Coal Miners News

Emergency Services/Homeless Services - November 2006 newsletter [ pdf 396 KB]

We Own Our Home

It seems fitting that in the 10th year of service our community La Casa Hogar becomes a homeowner. A successful capital campaign raised over $150,000. This secures our home and launches us into the future. Success was possible because generous community leaders have faith in our mission, share our vision for the future and care deeply about our community. Our leadership team Rick Pinnell, Bette Taylor, Ann Willis & Peggy Ludwick spent countless hours introducing the story of La Casa to their friends and other community leaders, encouraging their support. Helen Jewett-Shield’s generosity and challenge gift inspired others to join with us. The Board of Directors and staff’s commitment to mission laid the foundation. Most importantly our success and future is inspired by the courageous and highly motivated women we serve.

Community Garden Wins 2006 Youth Garden Grants

Here is what they had to say about the project:

Yakima Homeless Youth Committee
Yakima, WA
In Spring 2005, an inner city lot was cleared for the Yakima Community Garden, a project intended to engage homeless youth. Outreach workers and adult volunteers invited homeless young people to participate in planning, planting, and caring for the garden. The garden gives them the chance to learn useful skills, to have positive interactions with community members, and to produce nutritious food. Participants also operate a produce stand, gaining work experience and funds to help pay for personal necessities.

"The Garden is a source of income, nutrition, exercise, and hope for the youth, plus a significant learning experience and neighborhood beautification project," notes Patricia Brown of the Yakima Homeless Youth Committee. "Recently, a man who lives in the neighborhood came by and remarked, ‘This garden is soothing, settling, a feast for my eyes and a comfort to my soul each time I see it.’ Spontaneous good is already happening."

Community Garden Committee Chair Steve Gaulke says, “I’ve seen first hand wonderful interactions with neighbors, passers by that we've never been witnessed before. The Garden is focused on helping people have new and positive experiences, providing a safe place to make new connections and friendships, to learn, and to experience personal growth."

El Sol highlights the work of La Casa Hogar

La Casa Hogar, Una decada de solidaridad - Read the article

The Heart of Our Home Cookbook - El Corazón de Nuestro Hogar

This collection of family recipes from the Women of La Casa Hogar was launched in mid February 2006. For more information on the cookbook see the Heart of Our Home Cookbook page.

The Loss of Annabelle

If you have read the paper today (October 27th) you will have seen that a woman found dead in the Yakima River, was finally identified. The path of her homelessness and struggle transitioning off the streets was full of closed doors, limited resources and diminished hope for a future of a safe and affordable home. This woman, a mother, a friend to many, stayed at the mission as long as they allow, and then out of desperateness shared a room with another woman. The situation was neither safe nor affordable, leading up to her desperate walk which ended some where along the cold and dark Yakima River.

Annabelle just wanted a home, a place to be safe and start her recovery from the harsh cruel world of homelessness. She died alone, no friends, no family, and no safety net to assist her in her dreams. If only she had a home, affordable housing, maybe, just maybe her walk along the river, in the dark, damp cold would have ended differently. Will there be other Annabelle? All I can say is there are many other men and woman out there needing affordable safe housing. Housing first is the single most important key to recovery, and ending the pain and suffering associated with the crises of homelessness in our community and country.

It is unclear if any family will come forward; once again a person experiencing homelessness is invisible in life and now death. I ask all who are concerned about preventing and helping ending homelessness demand resources for housing for the homeless and people living on the edge in poverty. This Crisis will not end without Housing, and as hopeful as I may want to be, without a change there will be many more Annabelles.

Steve Gaulke, PATH Homeless Outreach

Project 101 at La Casa Hogar gives hope to women like Annabel ... !

Yakima Herald Republic Editorial on Annabelle Fund

A little Annabelle Fund help goes a long ways for local homeless

Sometimes a little help can go a long way when it fills a low-profile need in helping the less fortunate.

For the homeless in this area, that would be the new Annabelle Fund. It doesn’t attract a lot of attention and has very limited resources, but don’t try to tell those it has helped that it doesn’t make a difference.

The fund was initiated by Steve Gaulke, a local outreach worker for the homeless. It’s named for Annabelle Lee McIntyre, a local homeless woman who died last October along the Yakima River.
Gaulke approached the La Casa Hogar/Yakima Interfaith Coalition to start up and run the fund that operates under a modest budget – all from local donations – and without the bureaucracy often evident with bigger agencies and government programs.

Depending upon availability, individuals may request up to $600 a year. Money goes directly to a landlord to ensure it is used appropriately. In exchange for assistance, recipients must agree to work with a case manager.

The idea of the fund is to keep it small, says Gloria Garza, Yakima Interfaith Coalition’s coordinator of emergency service, who along with Gaulke and Sister Georgette Bayless determine who receives funding.

Gaulke told our reporter that McIntyre might be alive today if she could have accessed a few dollars until the Social Security benefits she was entitled to kicked in – a process that can take a few months. He was working toward getting McIntyre into permanent housing at the time of her death. This program deals with needs so small that they often fly below the radar. No more. Annabelle McIntyre may have died alone and homeless, but as it turns out, her plight has helped make a difference for others.

The Annabelle Fund is just one more of those people-helping-people approaches we appreciate so much about this community.

Published by the Yakima Herald Republic - Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Plazas Comunitarias

La Casa Hogar, in partnership with Yakima School District, is a new site for Plazas Comunitarias. Inaugural Celebration and introduction to the program was held on October 27, 2006.

This is a great opportunity for the women and children of La Casa Hogar. The Spanish internet based curriculum, primary through secondary, allows students to continue their education no matter what level of education they have completed, while they gain their English skills. Individuals can also take course work towards their GED. Students studying Spanish at La Casa Hogar will be invited to enroll in the program.

The Concept - Plazas Comunitarias is an agreement between the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, OSPI, Yakima School District and the Mexican Government to set up a computer/internet-based hookup between the Mexican educational system and our school systems here in Washington State. This agreement allows students (young/old) to continue their education by logging on to this approved system and completing their required course work and meeting their educational requirements. There has been a lot of work put into developing this system and working out all the details including alignment of over 72 courses between Mexico and Washington State.

Yakima County 10-year plan to combat homelessness gets national recognition - Read all about it!