WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

“We are not content to manage the crisis, or to maintain the effort, or to accommodate the response. We were called to one goal, one objective, one mission – to abolish homelessness. Now is the time to forward the advocacy, fashion the strategy, and to fulfill that mission.” -Philip Mangano, Exec Dir US Interagency Council on Homelessness

Lift Up Your Voice to End Homelessness has many action opportunities that offer a variety of ways for YOU to get involved. Below each opportunity is a brief description.

Take a Hungry Person to Lunch
Beginning in 2014, the UU church has sponsored this event in recognition of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in November, giving volunteers the chance to meet and forge bonds with people in need, when they take them out for lunch in restaurants in downtown Ventura.

Homeless Persons Memorial Service Join us in remembering all of those who have died this past year while homeless in Ventura. We will speak to the difficulty of life while homeless, as well as call attention to the need for a shift to a culture of compassion. Check our newsletter for the next service.

Ventura County Annual Homeless Persons Count Day
Join other volunteers from across Ventura County in the annual counting of our homeless population. The data that we collect in this count will be used to help determine services and to express to the state and federal government what the need is for assisting our homeless population in Ventura. Lift Up Your Voice has a tradition of providing many of the volunteers for this important work, and we call upon all LUYV Volunteers to turn out again this year. To register for a shift, check back for a link to sign up. Training will be offered prior to the day of the count.

Homeless Persons Photo Projects
Described as “powerful”, the second Lift Up Your Voice Photo Project, “To Sleep . . . Perchance to Dream” highlights childhood homelessness through photographs of the places homeless children sleep and of these children’s artwork. “Faces of Homelessness” tells the stories of 12 individuals or families experiencing homelessness, telling of both their struggles and their hopes. Either display, or a combination of the two, is available for your business location or special event.

Safe Sleep
In an effort to provide safe space for people who are sleeping in their cars, Lift Up Your Voice, a program of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura, has partnered with Homeless 2 Home to allow individuals and families to safely sleep in their vehicles in the church parking lot overnight, while Homeless 2 Home works to move them into permanent housing. To find out if you can join Safe Sleep, please call a Homeless 2 Home case manager at 805-477-2202.

One Stop
Weekly volunteers support this centralized location where social services and professionals are available to homeless individuals. To find out more about volunteering, please contact our One Stop liaison, Dorothy Fasthorse.

Ventura Homeless Prevention Fund
The Ventura Homeless Prevention Fund keeps families in their homes rather than allowing them to become homeless. Over 21,000 residents of Ventura are just one serious incident away from homelessness. The most effective step we can take to end homelessness is to prevent it. For a one-time cost of around $500, the Homeless Prevention Fund keeps individuals and families in their homes. Once someone falls into homelessness, the situation can easily spiral quickly downward, and it can take an investment of $10,000 to $20,000 to get them housed and stable once again. The Homeless Prevention Fund is supported primarily through donations. To donate, click here. Fundraisers such as concerts and the annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service also provide much-needed funding. To volunteer, click here.

River Haven
You can support homeless individuals in transition through meal service and gardening, in partnership with the Turning Point Foundation and the River Haven Transitional Community. Contact Harold Cartlidge for more information.

Public Witness & Rallies
Grassroots organizing holds many opportunities for your involvement.

Advocacy & Empowerment
From special event support to leadership in your area of expertise.
Questions about these opportunities or Lift Up Your Voice in general may be directed to the Lift Up Your Voice Director.