MONROE - Green County Leaders are stepping forward to undertake the first fundraiser for the Homelessness Prevention Coalition of Green County (HPCGC).
"Time to Get Our House in Order" is a low-pressure campaign to raise money for the incidental expenses often overlooked when people become homeless and can't be obtained with Food Share benefits.
"Some things fall between the gaps," said Sue McGowen, a member of Green County Leaders and the HPCGC fundraising committee. "Incidentals add up to a lot."
McGowen noted personal hygiene items, home cleaning products, shoes and clothes for children, gas money or cab passes, and laundry money as just a few expenses that get squeezed out of the budget when income is lost or cut.
Green County Leaders will distribute pre-printed envelopes in The Monroe Times inside today's edition. Contributors to the cause can donate any amount they wish and return the envelope to the Wisconsin Community Bank in Monroe.
No goal has been set for the campaign, and there is no deadline for donations.
"Any amount will help," McGowen said. "And the money stays in Green County."
Green County Leaders picked up the fundraiser as part of the group's mission to build awareness of community issues.
"Homelessness isn't a person living in a cardboard box," McGowen said. "Some (people) are sleeping from friends' to friends' houses, with no permanent residency."
Green County Human Services reported 55 households became homeless in 2009, and another 57 households experienced near-homelessness. Of the 287 individuals affected, more than half were children.
HPCGC works in cooperation with Southwest Community Action Program (SWCAP.) Committed to preventing homelessness throughout Green County, HPCGC works to improve access to and availability of emergency and transitional housing, as well as affordable permanent housing. It also coordinates community networks that promote self-sufficiency and stabilize families, regardless of history or background.
SWCAP reports that most of the 136 households it helped in Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland and Grant counties between August and December 2009 were in danger of homelessness due to the parents' loss of a job.
The Green County Leaders Program is part of the Future Forward! Initiative in Green County, and is possible because of a partnership of the Green County Development Corporation, UW-Extension Green County, the Monroe Campus of Blackhawk Technical College, and local business and government stakeholders.
Under SWCAP, HPCGC has 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and all donations are tax deductible. The campaign is sponsored by Salvation Army; Reffue,Pass,Jacobson & Koster; Monroe Clinic; Swiss Colony; and Wisconsin Community Bank.
"Time to Get Our House in Order" is a low-pressure campaign to raise money for the incidental expenses often overlooked when people become homeless and can't be obtained with Food Share benefits.
"Some things fall between the gaps," said Sue McGowen, a member of Green County Leaders and the HPCGC fundraising committee. "Incidentals add up to a lot."
McGowen noted personal hygiene items, home cleaning products, shoes and clothes for children, gas money or cab passes, and laundry money as just a few expenses that get squeezed out of the budget when income is lost or cut.
Green County Leaders will distribute pre-printed envelopes in The Monroe Times inside today's edition. Contributors to the cause can donate any amount they wish and return the envelope to the Wisconsin Community Bank in Monroe.
No goal has been set for the campaign, and there is no deadline for donations.
"Any amount will help," McGowen said. "And the money stays in Green County."
Green County Leaders picked up the fundraiser as part of the group's mission to build awareness of community issues.
"Homelessness isn't a person living in a cardboard box," McGowen said. "Some (people) are sleeping from friends' to friends' houses, with no permanent residency."
Green County Human Services reported 55 households became homeless in 2009, and another 57 households experienced near-homelessness. Of the 287 individuals affected, more than half were children.
HPCGC works in cooperation with Southwest Community Action Program (SWCAP.) Committed to preventing homelessness throughout Green County, HPCGC works to improve access to and availability of emergency and transitional housing, as well as affordable permanent housing. It also coordinates community networks that promote self-sufficiency and stabilize families, regardless of history or background.
SWCAP reports that most of the 136 households it helped in Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland and Grant counties between August and December 2009 were in danger of homelessness due to the parents' loss of a job.
The Green County Leaders Program is part of the Future Forward! Initiative in Green County, and is possible because of a partnership of the Green County Development Corporation, UW-Extension Green County, the Monroe Campus of Blackhawk Technical College, and local business and government stakeholders.
Under SWCAP, HPCGC has 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, and all donations are tax deductible. The campaign is sponsored by Salvation Army; Reffue,Pass,Jacobson & Koster; Monroe Clinic; Swiss Colony; and Wisconsin Community Bank.