Good morning everybody,
Our group received a request for assistance with mortgage payments and/or electric bills this week. While we don't have any monetary funds at this time, I would like to open up a virtual discussion about how we could solve these issues locally. If you know of existing groups or programs in place to solve these issues, please post them here. If you have ideas about how we ourselves could be of service, please post those as well.
To get you started thinking, I will post some of the ideas folks have come up with so far:
I had one thought, which was that Chris and I could unplug things and turn down the heat, lose the cable tv, etc. and then "adopt" a family to help with their electric bill. Riverside for Change families could decide to participate on a household basis, and maybe single folks could partner up to "adopt" a family. We'd be helping the environment and our neighbors.
Holly put forward that The Jacksonville Urban League has housing counseling programs, for buying homes and for finding subsidized housing. http://www.jaxul.org/
Anybody else have ideas?
Casie SimpsonRiverside for Change
Steve shared this article with me "Obama Isn't the Only One Being Inaugurated on Jan. 20th" (printed by The Huffington Post), and with our upcoming service event it seems so fitting that I would like to pass it along.
If you're intrigued at all by the idea of swearing into the service of our country with Barack, I urge you to sign up and participate in the Riverside & Second Harvest partner for Change event on the 17th. A great way to kick off your commitment to the community in 2009!
Since two of our team members (thanks Juli & Steve) have shared the article "A Craigslist for Service" with me (printed by The Huffington Post) I will pass it along. There are several relevant and thought-provoking ideas that connect with Saturday's discussion.
