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Your generosity gives our neighbors without homes the care they need to regain health, hope and opportunity. This Valentine's Day, a special visitor stopped by to help thank you for supporting Health Care for the Homeless.

What do you crave?

The crowd. The energy.
The chocolate!
 

Join the who’s who of Baltimore at the Chocolate Affair
for a night that ticks all the boxes.

The real treat? Every dollar raised delivers
transformative care for our neighbors without homes.

Last week, the 400-room Lord Baltimore Hotel became Baltimore City's new Triage, Respite and Isolation (TRI) center. It''s a place where immigrants, people experiencing homelessness, front-line workers and others who cannot self-isolate can now safely quarantine.

This new capacity for isolation opens the door for the widespread testing at shelters needed to slow the spread. 

• On Friday, our staff joined the Johns Hopkins field unit and the Baltimore City Health Department to test 130 residents of the Greenspring shelter (at the former KIPP Academy). 
• "The process can be stressful, and the testing can feel intrusive-especially for people with traumatic experiences related to homelessness," says therapist Deirdre Hoey who supported Friday''s testing efforts. "We''re there so people feel seen, heard and connected as they get through this challenge."

Thank you: From our family to yours

This has been a challenging year, but through it all, you have been there for our neighbors without homes and our staff on the frontline. Your support provides medical care, therapy, medications, housing and so much more.

That''s why we wanted to share this special message with you.

You did it! Yesterday, you gave and helped raise over $100,000, enough to sponsor a full year of care for over 200 of our neighbors without homes.

Special thanks to Figure 53, Republic National Distributing Company, Mark Higdon and our anonymous donors for matching your gifts. 

Your surprised us with your incredible generosity. Kyrie said it best below, thank YOU for making it a very happy #GivingTuesday. 

The Rock Your Socks at Home/5K weekend is a month away (Nov. 7-8), and the prizes keep getting better.

Raise $250 and you get sweatpants. $500 nets you a hoodie. With the socks you get for registering, you can rock from head to toe!

Register now and start fundraising today.

Everyone who raises at least $50 this week is entered into a drawing to win a fitness smartwatch! Go go go!

Check out the full race details below...

$50 raised = Rock Your Socks bandana

$100 raised = Rock Your Socks t-shirt

* NEW * $250 = Rock Your Socks sweatpants

* NEW * $500 = Rock Your Socks hoodie


Your registration fee counts toward your
fundraising total, so sign up now!

Raise $500 and sponsor a year of care
 for one of our neighbors experiencing homelessness

$50 raised = Rock Your Socks bandana

$100 raised = Rock Your Socks t-shirt

Your registration fee counts toward your
fundraising total, so sign up now!

. Raise $500 and sponsor a year of care
 for one of our neighbors experiencing homelessness
. Earn additional prizes for reaching $250, $500,
$1,000 and $2,500 funds raised.

On Friday, our medical and behavioral health providers joined the Mayor''s Office of Homeless Services, Baltimore City Health Department, Catholic Charities and hospital partners in testing and safely isolating 123 residents of Baltimore City''s largest emergency shelter. And just seven tests came back positive. 

It''s hard to imagine what might have happened if testing occurred even a week later. Testing early (before symptoms show) helped to protect over 100 people. We continue to advocate for broad testing in congregate settings to slow the spread and save lives.

In related news, we just expanded our on-site testing capacity and shelter screening hotline. Last week, we tested 20 people at our downtown clinic, with four positive results. And at the start of this week, Baltimore County's four largest shelters joined Baltimore City shelters in accessing both our screening and testing services. 

As we enter our third week of the COVID-19 emergency in Maryland, we work towards these goals: 1. to resolutely advance our mission amid challenging circumstances, 2. to ensure the safety of clients and staff, and 3. to slow the spread of the virus to people experiencing homelessness.

"Trying to get a client tested is a resource-intensive logistical feat," says Director of Adult Medicine Laura Garcia, CRNP. "This results in a truly disparate health care system for people without homes or transportation." 
 

We are making a bad situation better. Our staff has pulled together to provide on-site testing for people experiencing homelessness. This week, we repurposed the garage at our downtown clinic for COVID-19 testing. Right now, we have the capacity to test a limited number of people, but we hope to be able to expand that number in April.
 
"This process involves medical staff in protective gear which can be scary and unnerving for people who already don't trust the health care system," Laura adds. "But everyone who has been tested is very thankful that they have had a friendly face doing the testing."

Health Care for the Homeless is partnering with Baltimore City to connect anyone testing positive with safe transportation and a place to isolate.

The outpouring of support and concern you've shown for the people we serve and our staff continues to inspire us. Your donations are helping us respond to constantly evolving needs: staffing, supplies, medicine, cleaning and more.
 

Our clinic remains open.

You can hear about it from our staff in the video above and from a grateful client in the letter below-we are in this together. 

"As clients of Health Care for the Homeless, we would like to thank you from the heart for the concern and professionalism you show to us. Whenever we walk into Health Care for the Homeless, we have somewhere to belong.

As one who has been homeless and has lost basically everything, I am very pleased with the services you provide. I have diabetes and major depression. Finding an apartment was not easy, and I did not have much family support. But the staff has been like family to me.

I am so grateful. There are many people like me, and we truly need and appreciate you."
 

- A grateful client
 

In the news...

Show Compassion for Sex Workers and Drug Users - The Baltimore Sun
The Challenge of Protecting Homeless Populations - PBS News Hour
Nurses Weigh their Principles vs. Safety in Virus Fight - Associated Press
Poverty and Race Add to COVID-19 Toll in US Deep South - The Guardian

We''re only a few weeks away from the Rock Your Socks at Home/5K weekend (Nov. 7-8), and sock rockin'' superfan Charlie can''t wait.

You, too, can be cool and stylish like Charlie! All you need to do is register (socks) and raise $50 (bandanna) and voila, you''re a fashion icon.

Register now and start fundraising today.

And that''s not all! Everyone who gets at least three donations this week is entered into a drawing to win an Echo Dot smart speaker.

Sounds pretty good, huh? 

Check out the full race details below...

Your registration fee counts toward your
fundraising total, so sign up now!

Raise $500 and sponsor a year of care
 for one of our neighbors experiencing homelessness

On February 6, enjoy the premiere of an original documentary by Health Care for the Homeless paired with a complement of short films curated by the Parkway Theater.

See health, housing and homelessness in Baltimore through the eyes of "Q," a young, deaf mom building a better life for herself and her daughter.

What Chocolate Affair would be complete without a little something sweet? Enjoy iconic Baltimore treats and a gift from us, shipped to your home. 

Your chance to take action! Every dollar raised through your donation and registration helps increase access to transformative care for our neighbors without homes.

You''re Invited 
Community of Practice on Homelessness: Housing Inequities

Save your virtual seat for our third Community of Practice on Homelessness conversation on Thursday, September 17. 

Together, with Baltimore City Council President Brandon Scott, Public Justice Center Attorney Charisse Lue and President and CEO of Health Care for the Homeless Kevin Lindamood, we will explore: 

• How housing inequities (stemming from structural racism) are exacerbated by COVID-19
• How we can mitigate the negative consequences of evictions
• The connection between housing inequities and negative health outcomes
• Strategies to abandon "status quo" systems, policies and practices that perpetuate housing inequities

In little more than a week, we moved from discovering our first three positive cases to conducting 85 tests with 43 positives. The majority of these tests occurred within a residential treatment program run by The Baltimore Station. Most of the residents testing positive for coronavirus had no symptoms.

These results mirror other shelters across the country, including the largest shelter in San Francisco and a 400-person shelter in Boston, where nearly half the residents also tested positive without displaying symptoms.

Please read The Baltimore Sun Op-Ed that Chief Medical Officer Adrienne Trustman and I wrote to learn more.

The takeaway? We need widespread testing in homeless shelters. And we need it now, not in weeks or months. We've overcome the reluctance to test in other congregate housing (such as nursing homes) when people are not symptomatic because proactive testing has revealed large numbers of positive cases. Residents of homeless shelters must have this same across-the-board testing. Their risk is our risk.

As the number of cases continues to climb, our incredibly dedicated staff are doing all that we can to keep the people we serve safe:

• collaborating closely with Baltimore City, Baltimore County and shelter partners to screen, test and safely isolate people, including through our expanded shelter screening hotline
• adding additional testing capacity at our 421 Fallsway clinic
• advocating for state and federal resources to support widespread testing efforts in shelters across Maryland

As non-essential businesses close across Maryland, Health Care for the Homeless needs to keep the doors open. In the face of COVID-19, that means making strategic (and painful) decisions to deliver care in the safest way for staff and clients. Here are the latest changes:

Our staff are on the front line-screening, guiding, comforting and caring for people experiencing homelessness who need care today. Neighbors who don''t have the option to "stay home."
 

In this moment of crisis, our most reliable resource is you. 
Support frontline staff and clients today.

Another anonymous donor has stepped up with a $5,000 match to help us get to $100,000 this #GivingTuesday.

Every dollar given today goes to critical care and support for our neighbors without homes.

Thank you to Figure 53, Republic National Distributing Company, Mark Higdon and our anonymous donor for matching gifts today. 

The risks of homelessness have only gotten more severe in 2020. Stand up for the health and safety of our neighbors without homes with a gift today.

In Solidarity and with Resolve
A statement from Health Care for the Homeless

Health Care for the Homeless stands in solidarity with people across the United States and around the world mourning and protesting the death of George Floyd. We stand with those who remember Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Botham Jean, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and countless others who died unnecessarily at the hands of police or white assailants. We stand with clients and staff who live in legitimate fear that their names and those of their loved ones could be added to this list while walking, driving, exercising, playing, working or sleeping in the privacy of their own homes. We acknowledge that these lives matter. We resolve to say their names.

Health Care for the Homeless stands in solidarity with black and brown people who are dying at disproportionate rates from COVID-19, just as they do from other acute and chronic health conditions. We stand with them as they are forced to endure more violence in their communities, lower wages at work, less access to quality health care throughout their lives, more incarceration by the justice system and fewer options for housing than their white counterparts. We acknowledge that our health care system contributes to this oppression through pervasive interpersonal, institutional and systemic racism. We resolve to identify, understand and address the ways our agency is complicit in creating these disparities.

Health Care for the Homeless stands in solidarity with our staff and clients who feel anger, anguish, anxiety, exhaustion and frustration as African Americans. George Floyd was killed when an officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds while three others who heard Mr. Floyd's pleas for breath stood by and said nothing. We acknowledge that we too often remain silent when witnessing the injustices around us. We understand that advancing our mission to end homelessness requires addressing the role of structural racism in the perpetuation of poverty. We resolve to do our part toward creating a racially equitable society.
 

The risks that come with homelessness have only increased in 2020. This #GivingTuesday, stand up for the health and safety of our neighbors without homes. 

Your donations this #GivingTuesday deliver trusted care and support when it''s needed most.

And this is the best time to give! Through tomorrow, an anonymous donor has teamed up with Baltimore technology firm Figure 53 to match all gifts up to $45,000, doubling your donation''s impact.

Your gift today means safe and steady access to care for our neighbors without homes during COVID-19 and beyond.

Your donations make our work possible. Enjoy this special message of appreciation from our President & CEO, Kevin Lindamood.



Thousands of our neighbors need trusted care and support to regain health and home. You can help.

Best of all, an anonymous donor and Baltimore technology firm Figure 53 will double your impact with a full match.

Where do you see light? In the midst of dark times, here are a few heartwarming moments from our staff working on the front line of this public health crisis. 

We''ll be sharing #MondayMotivation brightspots on Twitter at the start of each week. Follow us @hchomeless and share your own!