I was really happy with the speech at our benefit this year and so thought I would share it with anyone who wants to read it, so here it is:
It has been a very exciting year for us and one worth celebrating. I would like to make it clear that we are not celebrating people being homeless, we are not celebrating poverty, we are not celebrating that there are people that suffer from debilitating mental, physical and substance abuse disorders, and we are not celebrating the fact that people are infected with HIV & AIDS.
We are celebrating hope; hope that we can have an impact on the growing tide of homelessness and poverty in Chicago. We are celebrating everyone in this room who believes in this hope and supports our work to end homelessness and poverty. We are celebrating RSSI’s staff who work tirelessly to help those in need. Most of all we celebrate our program participants, two of whom you will hear their stories tonight. Our program participants have to work hard to overcome the many obstacles they face, learn how to manage their disabilities, maintain stability in their housing and avoid the pitfalls of poverty. In this day and age, with the financial uncertainty many, many people are facing, we celebrate tonight the ability to see beyond our own issues to help others in need.
While our program participants are working to change their lives, we are working to make RSSI one of the premier organizations providing homeless services to the region. From our award from SAMHSA last year, to two new grants in the past year from the Department of Housing and Urban Development that will to enable us to provide housing subsidies and Comprehensive Case Management services to the homeless people who have been on the streets the longest and who have the most severe illnesses. This new program will enable us to help 150 people get off of the street corners, out from under the bridges and away from shelters and into housing with services. With these grant awards we have been able to house 28 individuals to date, and expect to house an additional five people a month for the next ten months – this is in addition to the 50 homeless families and individuals that we will continue to help toward independence.
With these funds and the funds from individuals, businesses, foundations and corporations we look forward, with hope, to a future where people do not need to live on the streets, and where a disability does not mean isolation and poverty. We look forward to a future where housing is affordable, services are available to people who need them, and we have the resources to prevent homelessness before it happens.
