Bear-raiser drives will help local families stay housed
This holiday season, several businesses will change the lives of local families by helping to keep them from becoming homeless. The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness announced today the launch of its annual be homeful for the holidays promotion featuring Paddington Bear™. The organization is partnering with businesses and communities throughout the state to hold bear-raiser drives that will raise funds for giving emergency assistance to families on the verge of becoming homeless.
“It is terrible to think that in Connecticut alone, 1,000 families experience homelessness each year,” said Lisa Tepper Bates, Executive Director of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness. “We wanted to give the public a way to spread a little bit of holiday cheer to local children while also giving families what they want more than anything: a home.”
Sadly, each year, 2,000 children in Connecticut end up in shelters. In 2014, the iconic Paddington Bear, who was homeless at the start of his journey, signed on as the campaign’s official “spokesbear” to raise awareness about how kids, families, and communities can team up to help local families avoid the trauma and hardship of homelessness.
The bear-raiser drive is an easy, fun way to crucially impact the lives of local children. There is no cost to host a bear drive. Through the bear-raiser drive, the public is given the opportunity to donate to the be homeful project, which provides emergency assistance to help local families remain in their homes. For every $25 donation, a child in a shelter will receive a matched gift of either a Paddington Bear or a Paddington book. The goal is to raise enough money so that each of the approximately 2,000 children in shelters receives both a bear and a book, while also raising funds to help 100 families remain housed.
“As REALTORS® we believe every child should have a place to call home,” said Mary Ann Hebert, a Trustee of the CT REALTORS® Foundation, which is sponsoring the bears for the promotion. “It’s powerful to think we are making it possible for every child in Connecticut to have a home.”
“This campaign matters and Citizens Bank is proud to be part of this effort,” agreed Lisa Maass, President of Citizens Bank in Connecticut, which is generously funding the campaign and providing volunteer support. “We believe strongly in helping to improve the lives of our neighbors and that starts with something as essential as a having a roof over their heads.”
This promotion is made possible through the generous support of CT REALTORS® Foundation, Citizens Bank, and the United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut. CCEH receives funding from United Way; please consider making a direct contribution to United Way through your workplace campaign to continue supporting CCEH and other local organizations.
About the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness
CCEH represents more than 75 members – emergency shelter providers, transitional housing providers, community and business leaders, and strategic partners – who share the goal of ending homelessness. In partnership with communities throughout the state, CCEH advances this goal through leadership, community organizing, advocacy, research, and education. In 2015, CCEH launched the be homeful project to help stamp out family homelessness for good by ending homelessness one family at a time. In partnership with businesses through the state, through the be homeful project, money is raised to increase shelter diversion, allowing struggling families stay in the comfort of their home. According to research, the best way to help people is to keep them out of the shelter in the first place. Remarkably, through this project, it only costs on average $1000 to help a family at risk of homelessness remain housed.
About the be homeful project
CCEH started the be homeful project to respond to the lack of funds available to help families at the front door of shelter. The primary goal of this project is to raise emergency funds that case workers assisting clients referred by 2-1-1 can access to assist with one-time expenses that will be the difference between whether a family enters the shelter system or is able to remain housed. CCEH is fortunate to be partnered with the children’s book character Paddington, who is helping raise awareness about the impact homelessness has on young children and engage kids, families, and communities in lending a hand to families facing homelessness.