Mishkan Torah to Sponsor Walk to Combat Homelessness

On October 20, 2013, you can enjoy an autumn walk and fight homelessness, which affects our whole community so adversely. The Social Action Committee of Mishkan Torah will host a Fannie Mae “Help The Homeless Walk" on Sunday, October 20 beginning at 12:45pm.  We will be meeting at Mishkan Torah, 10 Ridge Road, Greenbelt, MD and then walking around Greenbelt Lake. We ask every family to join together in a community effort to end homelessness. 

You must register to walk either online or in person at Mishkan Torah at 12:30 pm on October 20, the day of the walk. You may register online by following the links on the Mishkan Torah website http://www.mishkantorah.org/walk-to-help-the-homeless. Child walker registration is $20 and adult registration is $30. If you cannot join us, you can sponsor someone to walk – as many school children walk but cannot afford to give. The event is open to the entire community.

Every day, over 12,000 men, women and children are homeless in our Metro DC communities. More than 2,700 of our Prince George’s County Public School children experienced homelessness each year. Over 136,000 veterans experienced homelessness in 2009 – 11,300 of who were 18 to 30 and served in Iraq or Afghanistan. There is a good chance that someone we work with, worship with, or go to school with, is homeless or in imminent danger of homelessness.  By walking, each person offers a Warm Night to someone in need by raising much-needed funds for a local nonprofit Community Crisis Services, Inc. (CCSI). 

CCSI has been serving individuals and families in crisis in Prince George’s County 24 hours per day, every day since 1970. In the community, it is often the first point of contact for individuals in crisis – seeking disaster services, shelter placement, social services, to report child or adult abuse, suicide prevention/ intervention counseling, or simply seeking a compassionate 
listener.  

CCSI has grown from a single hotline in a closet-sized office to an indispensable resource in the community – this past year, answering more than 143,000 calls from individuals and families in crisis and in need, including over 42,000 calls seeking homeless services. Its Warm Nights Shelter remains the only Hypothermia Shelter in the Greater Washington DC area that accommodates families and children. This winter the Warm Nights hypothermia shelter program provided 5,200 bed-nights of shelter from November to April and was often overfilled.  CCSI is the only agency staffed and ready to answer any kind of crisis call, every hour of every day of the year, and takes its 24/7/365 commitment extremely seriously. During severe snows and other weather events, CCSI has taken necessary measures to remain staffed and operational.

As a prelude to the walk, Laila Riazi of CCSI will speak on the state of homelessness in Prince Georges Country at the Friday night service at Mishkan Torah on October 11, 2013 at 8:00 pm. The event is free and open to the public.

Please walk and please give generously. Gather with us at Mishkan Torah and walk to show we care. Participate in outdoor fun and help those who cannot help themselves.