For the seventh year, the Missoula At Risk Housing Coalition will be holding its Project Homeless Event.

Grants Administrator with the Department of Grants and Community Programs, Melissa Gordon, said on Monday, January 20, that the one-day event will be held at the First United Methodist Church in Missoula on Friday, January 24.

"There will be about 75 different service providers on site, and the purpose of the event is to provide in one location, all of the services that folks who are homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless might need," Gordon said. "We'll have service providers at the church that will provide housing assistance, a hot meal for folks along with food bags they can take with them. We'll have clothing, medical and dental services, mental health services, help folks get IDs, birth certificates and driver's licenses. Those are just some of the services that will be on hand on Friday."

Gordon said over 350 people were served at the 2013 event, and she is expecting at least that many this year.

"We have over 200 people who will be serving as volunteers during the event," Gordon said. "As soon as a client comes to the church, he or she is paired up with a volunteer, so there's a one-to-one volunteer to participant ratio. What we hear every year, is that the one-on-one aspect is the most important part of the event, the relationship that is built between the participant and the volunteer. It's a most useful event, in that most participants feel they are able to get most of the things they need in just one day."

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, January 24 at First United Methodist Church, which is right across from the public library.

Grants Administrator with the Department of Grants and Community Programs, Melissa Gordon

 

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