Dear A Safe Haven Family and Friends,

Hopefully, like our own family, everyone got in all of their shopping and we are all fully stocked up with groceries, anti-bacterial and flu supplies and we got a chance to spend our time at home getting caught up with our families and friends playing board games, card games, watching movies and cooking fabulous meals! Whether we are taking the time to prepare for work or school online from home or we are going into work tomorrow the need for all of us to come together to help the homeless is dire and imperative and we need your help! 

At A Safe Haven, we are a 24/7 operation. Our main HQ in Chicago and transitional housing facility we house over 500 people including homeless residents and staff, daily. We also house thousands more low income and poverty stricken populations throughout our network and system on a daily basis at our related supportive, affordable, senior and veteran housing locations.

Like all emergency first responders, who work as safety nets on the front lines helping our most vulnerable populations, we are busy making sure everyone is safely housed, getting a healthy meal and keeping up with best hygiene practices. At A Safe Haven we do not have the option to close our doors to help flatten the curve and rate of spreading the disease like most businesses, schools, sporting events, concerts and churches. We are preparing for the worst case scenario. We are also expecting major workforce shortages due to the closure of schools and as a result of any potential quarantines. Finally we are also bracing ourselves as so many people are only one pay check away from being homeless, that with your support we can be ready to rally to do our part to help them. 

In addition to strengthening our policies, conducting even more deep cleaning at all locations and training our staff, we are investing heavily in purchasing necessary items and in creating additional space for shelter and in expanding our capacity so that we can serve another 75-100 more people perhaps as a segregated quarantine area, if the need arises.

It's a moment of truth, and a lot of things are about to change about the way we live our lives because of the coronavirus, in the best case scenario, I hope that our leaders and all of us finally realize not only the urgency of helping the homeless as the right thing to do for our fellow man, but also that we recognize the huge public health risk and threat it poses to all of us, if we don't. It is crucial that we learn to give differently and in a way that help us focus on getting them under the proper type of transitional housing, and to engage in the type of individualized wrap around services so that they need to help them get back on their feet to support themselves and those that can't we find a way to accommodate them in the most humane way, as well.

In the meantime, on a happy note, we have not yet cancelled our signature 5k RUN/WALK To End Homelessness, if you would like to think positive and want your brand, and/or you and your team to plan to be there with us to help us do more for the homeless and help celebrate our 10th Annual 5K RUN/WALK To End Homelessness, we are grateful some sponsors have even called to increase their sponsorship levels, especially, after they learned about the coronavirus and it's impact on the homeless. Angels do exist! You can find sponsorship and registration information online: www.RunToEndHomelessness.org (Registration rates go up 3/31)

Thank you and Please Stay Healthy!

Love & God Bless, Neli

ALL SCHEDULED GROUP VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED

We Apologize that In An Abundance of Caution to Protect the Public and The Homeless, we are Cancelling and Rescheduling All Group Volunteer Projects until Further Notice. This decision also puts a tremendous burden on our trained professional Staff.

No Worries, You Can Still Help!