Jim Ross (Board Chair) and Terry Edison-Brown (Director) spoke about Anawim House - a residential safe place for healing from addictions and other causes of poverty and homelessness. They strive to provide a home for 7 men and drop in services Monday to Friday.
Anawim is Hebrew for God's Precious Poor and Anawim House on Caledonia Avenue has been operating since 1991. They provide a safe family environment, enabling people to recover from poverty and addictions. There are 3 RULES of the HOUSE:
No Violence
No Intoxication
Respect
The house is a residence for 7 men and they are on their own on nights and weekends. They are also responsible for running the drop in part of Anawim which occurs Monday to Friday where they feed 30 people for lunch and provides laundry and showers for people who sign up for their 'spot' for those services. The Aegean Cafe provides soup every Friday and volunteers work in the kitchen, in administration and in the 'shop' for clothing.
One of their main fundraisers is Christmas Trees which nets them about $12,000 per year. It is a 'hands on' project that the residents operate. Otherwise, they rely on volunteers and fundraising to operate the House. At their fundraiser in June, two of their 'graduates' aged 20 and 50 years were interviewed. Graduates stay connected to the house and the family. Jim shared some of their graduates' success stories.
The Director of the program, Terry, was a homeless drug addict and on Christmas Day he was welcomed with a gift with his name on it. He was given love, and was treated like a human being. That is the mantra of Anawim. Accept people for who they are, meet them with love and learn their story as they are supported and enabled to 'find their way' out of addiction and poverty.
Terry was asked what needs to be done about the homeless situation in Victoria. He said it is very complex but there are some things that need to be done:
- Lobby government to produce more housing.
- Provide funds for counseling.
- Provide safe homes throughout the community; don't warehouse all the street people in the same place.
- Know the different needs of all of the people and know what barriers they face.
- He recommended that we watch a YouTube video: "Seattle is Dying" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpAi70WWBlw
Anawim's budget it $360,000 per year. It is not staff centered, it is people centered. Anyone wanting to help, contact Terry at director@anawimhouse.com