ROC The Day with REACH

Join us on November 30th to ROC the Day! ROC the Day is a 24-hour, online event supporting not-for-profit organizations throughout the Greater Rochester area.

By participating in ROC the Day, you can make a difference in our REACH efforts. We encourage you to share this opportunity with your friends and family.

Set your calendar reminders for November 30th, come back and ROC with us!
Shelter Committee Updates
REACH Home 2021-2022

The last few weeks have been busy for the Shelter Committee. Although our plans have not been finalized, we are excited to announce the Committee is seriously exploring options for our winter shelter this year, REACH Home 21-22. 

As you may remember, the pandemic forced us to close REACH Home early two years ago and completely halted our plans to open last winter. As devastating as it was for us, it was obvious the congregate shelter model proved too dangerous, exposing shelter guests and volunteers to a highly contagious and – at times deadly – respiratory disease.

With the health and safety of all foremost in our minds, we are looking to implement an innovative and unique shelter this winter: a scattered-site model. In this plan, all our guests will have their own room and reduce the overall number of people in a single location. Multiple reports and research has shown this design is safest in the age of COVID and considered best practice across the country. Furthermore, the scattered-site model enables us to offer shelter to families with children, expanding beyond our traditional population of adults.

Please keep an eye out for updates in the next few weeks. If our plans to open a scattered-site shelter become reality, we will need lots of help and support to make it safe and successful.  
Introducing Our Newest Team Member: Kelly Finnigan
We welcome Kelly Finnigan to our REACH Team. Actually, he is no stranger as he was a part of the founding members of our team in 2015. Kelly is now working with McCollaborative and has been assigned to lead our shelter program for the coming winter.

Kelly is a person of deep faith, believing that no person is outside of God’s love, and he has practiced this belief for many years of working with people experiencing homelessness. 

He brings to us a deep knowledge of the social systems and support systems so central the REACH mission and we are pleased to welcome him.
Thankful for Our Volunteers
On October 30th, we were joined by 15 volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

These volunteers helped REACH clean, organize, and prepare the new REACH scattered-site emergency wintertime shelter at 2 Willowbank Place off West Main.

We were also recently joined by our friends from the Naval ROTC of Brockport, University of Rochester, and RIT.
Since 2016, we have been honored to welcome NROTC members to our shelters and to receive their support on a variety of indoor and outdoor projects.

On November 3rd, NROTC members helped us prepare our 720 West Main Street site to become a gathering and distribute site for our scattered-site emergency shelters.

We are grateful for the time, energy, and dedication of our many volunteers!
A Permanent Home for REACH 

The Shelter Committee continues to work closely with the Coptic Christian Community to finalize the lease at 720 West Main Street. Although this location will not be used to shelter folks this winter, “720” (as we call it) will act as the supply and administrative hub for the scattered-site shelter model.
Tiny Home News

Since the last newsletter, we have received several donations, including a $25,000 grant from Davenport-Hatch, a local foundation.

We welcomed three new Founders: Denise Littleton, Barry Thompson, and Martha Eggers. 

We also want to recognize Trinity Emmanuel Lutheran Church for their second donation of $600. 

You can become a Tiny Home Village Founder by making a tax-deductible donation of $250 or more to REACH Advocacy for the Tiny Home Village.

Our work continues to move forward with both the Tiny Homes project and workforce development. This part of the project is still on target to start construction in the Spring of 2022.

Our biggest effort right now is wrapping up our fundraising campaign so we can begin construction on time. Your tax-deductible donations to REACH Advocacy’s Tiny Home Village can help us reach our financial goal.

Opportunities to support REACH include:

  • ROC the Day with Reach Advocacy on November 30. You can support us here.

  • Include the Tiny Home Village in your year-end giving.

  • Provide construction materials to help build the Village. For more information about this opportunity, contact Marcia Reaver at info@reachadvocacy.org.

Advocacy Opportunities and Current Events
At REACH, we share a common value and that is the idea that housing as a human right. However, we know for every 100 low-income individuals living in the city of Rochester, there are only 33 housing units available.


A special thanks to our very own, Peter Peters, for calling attention to this important call to action and for sharing ways we can all support our neighbors.
Stabilize Rochester

REACH continues to endorse the City Wide Tenants Union's Stabilize Rochester Campaign. CWTU is a grass roots organization that gives collective voice to those most impacted by housing in justice.

To learn more about this campaign please read CWTU's information sheets and consider taking action with them.