Our only homeless shelter is looking at losing most funding.

[w8liftinglady]

If you can spare a few bucks... most of our homeless are families and people with noo where else to go. This is the ONLY homeless shelter we have in Ellis County...Joe Barton's district, of course. This is just wrong.
Their official website
http://www.danielsdenelliscounty.org/

and the story:
http://www.thedailylight.com/articles/2011/09/02/news/doc4e60e9f269373155969909.txt
Shelter in need of emergency assistance
Federal, state cuts, economy
taking toll on Daniel’s Den


Some of the casualties of the economic downturn include the nonprofit organizations and services that target at-risk populations – and that includes the Daniel’s Den Ministries of Ellis County.

Executive director Joy Ranton explained the dire circumstances her organization, which serves the homeless, is facing.

“The bottom line is, we have lost federal and state funding. The two combined represents about a 65-percent cut in income for Daniel’s Den Ministries,” she said. “Of the $74,000 we were scheduled to receive, it was cut by $36,000.”

Daniel’s Den, which has been in operation since 1996, began a transitional housing six years ago.

“We’re the only homeless shelter in Ellis County. There are people that are homeless that are sleeping on a relative’s couch or staying with friends – going from house to house to house,” Ranton said. “And they come to us because it’s their last resort.”

She noted that the makeup of her clientele has changed over the past few years.

“Six years ago, we never had a client that had a car, but, during the first half of this year, all our clients had a car and many have college educations,” she said. “Now, more affluent people have found themselves jobless or going through a divorce and come to us for help.”

[MineralMan]

1. Sadly, this is a story that is repeated all across the country.

I wish I could send something, but I'm trying to keep my own local shelter going and am tapped out.

[w8liftinglady]

2. It's just sad, isn't it?

[sad sally]

3. What's really sad is billionaires like Buffett - from Texas - give

billions to help rescue Bank of America. Think how many shelters and people could be rescued with even a fraction of that $5 billion.

Our small county has a Salvation Army shelter (one part for singles and one small part for families), one women with children shelter that's always hurting for funds, and then one very benevolent man and woman who run a shelter for recovering addicts - they both have disabilities but very good hearts and have helped quite a few men and women get their lives back on track. There's also a thrift shop that opens its doors to people when the temperatures drop below 38 degrees. We try to keep these places going - too many people have no shelter, let alone a place to call home...