Setting up your own givemn.org fundraising page

Scott Moore was kind enough to write instructions for setting up a givemn.org Web page so you direct sponsors there to support your upcoming run on behalf of the homeless.

Just click here and you'll find yourself at a post from several months back.

Hello, Target athletes!

I'm psyched. Fellow Simpson Housing Services board member Mark Laliberte and I have five minutes to describe the organization and Simpson Housing Run to close to 200 runners and triathletes who are gathering at lunchtime. They're Target employees.

This is my dream: to speak to groups of people who participate in races so I can tell them about our "uncampaign." No muss, no fuss. Just people taking on ending homelessness via the race of their choice.

We'll tell them how easy it is to go to the givemn.org Web site to set up their own sponsorship Web page and raise money for Simpson Housing Run.

My enthusiasm cup runneth over!

A national plan to end homelessness

The online newspaper, MinnPost, recently published a story about a national plan to prevent and end homelessness. The plan envisions safe, affordable housing for all veterans and the chronically homeless in five years and the same for families, youth and children by 2020. It is being billed as the FIRST comprehensive strategy to prevent and end homelessness.

"It's about time" is a gross understatement.

Read more: MinnPost June 22, 2010.

Completed the 5K last Saturday

My sister, Marie, and I completed a 5K at Elm Creek Park Reserve in Maple Grove last Saturday. It was a cool morning, a bit overcast, but a great experience nonetheless. I raised about $300, less than my $500 goal, but it's a start!

So is easy to select a race to participate in. Just go to the Minnesota Distance Runners Association Web site for a calendar of races.

Progress report: 24 and counting!

I've just learned that 24 runners have raised $1800 so far. Come on!

I'm making contacts with a few churches to get greater momentum and lots more folks participating. If we can write a newsletter article, post a weekly bulletin notice or speak to your church about this campaign and homelessness, let me know.


Renee McGivern, Simpson Housing Services board member
sparkplugconsulting@gmail.com

Homelessness increasing in Minnesota

Homelessness isn't just about the man in a doorway you've seen. The truly heartbreaking reality of this issue are the children and teens who are homeless. Did you know that the average age of a homeless child is 6 1/2? If you're participating in the Simpson Housing Run, the following are some statistics to use in your fundraising.

From the March, 2010 Homelessness in Minnesota report from Wilder Research:

"After leveling off in the mid-2000s the number of homeless people in Minnesota is way up. On October 22, 2009, 9,452 homeless adults, youth, and children were counted in shelters, transitional housing, and on the streets. This compares to 7,751 counted in 2006.

The number of homeless families with children increased 27 percent, from 1,318 in 2006 to 1,670 in 2009.
* In all, 3,251 children were counted with their parents on the night of the survey, up about 500 from 2006.
* The average age of children with their parents is 6 and a half.

The study counted 1,207 youth (age 21 and younger) on their own, up from 867 in 2006; 220 age 17 and younger; 987 age 18 through 21.
* 64% of youth have a history of being in out-of-home placements including foster care, group homes, detention, or treatment centers (down from 70% in 2006).
* 74% youth have been homeless before. On average, youth first experienced homelessness at age 15.
* 24% youth slept outside, in a car, or in an abandoned building at least one night in October.

The youngest person interviewed in the study was 12; the oldest was 83.

Numbers reflect homeless people counted or interviewed for the study. Estimates of additional numbers of homeless people not found through study outreach will be released when additional analyses are completed."

To read more, go to Wilder's Homelessness in Minnesota Web page.


Renee McGivern, Simpson Housing Services board member
sparkplugconsulting@gmail.com

Now Accepting SHR Donations On Facebook

If you frequent Facebook often and would like to donate to the Simpson Housing Run, now you can. Just visit the SHR "Causes" page here. If you are a runner, consider joining the cause on Facebook and help us raise funds.

Joining the cause requires you to install the "Causes" Facebook application.