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| Day Center cook Diane Harris welcomes homeless guests with delicious hot lunches. |
In 2011, 1,145 homeless women paid a combined total of nearly 12,000 visits to Pathways’ downtown Day Center, where they were able to take a shower, get a hot meal, and take classes on how to improve their situations. On February 2 – Alabama Gives Day – Pathways will welcome the public to visit the Day Center from 9am-3pm with an Open House.
Visitors can meet Pathways’ staff, enjoy refreshments (including coffee, cookies and donuts), and take a tour of the Day Center, located at 409 Richard Arrington, Jr. Blvd N in downtown Birmingham (click here for directions).Open House visitors will also be invited – though certainly not required – to support Pathways with a donation as part of Alabama Gives Day on February 2.
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| Day Center guests listen to a guest speaker. |
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| A guest grabs lunch in the Day Center. |
Pathways offers an array of services to assist homeless women and children. Its Employment Readiness Program teaches women how to write an effective resume and impress would-be employers in a job interview. It sponsors a holiday giving program to help mothers like Joshlyn put presents for their children under the Christmas tree. And it helps women like Dee and Robin, who struggled with drug addiction, get back on their feet and back on the path toward independence.
Computers will be on hand during the Open House for visitors to make a donation to Pathways, or gifts can be made from any computer throughout the day at razoo.com/PathwaysHome. Smart phone users may also donate by scanning the QR code printed on fliers that will be handed out during the Open House.
Here is a snapshot of what a donation to Pathways can do:
$ 25 provides two nights of shelter for a mother and her child.
$ 50 provides a month's worth of meals for women living on the streets.
$ 100 provides transportation for three homeless women in shelter to go on job searches.
$ 500 provides job training classes for a homeless woman.
$ 1,000 provides counseling and support for five homeless mothers and their children.
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| A woman browses through clothing in Pathways' Clothes Closet. Homeless guests in need of clothes are allowed to pick out new outfits for free. |
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| A Pathways guest listens to a guest speaker during a Day Center class. |
The History of the Gives Day Movement: The Gives Day movement began three years ago in Minnesota as a means to increase philanthropy and help grow the individual donor base of nonprofits.
In 2011, Minnesota’s Give to the Max day saw 47,538 donations totaling $13.4 million. Colorado Gives Day recently had 52,000 donations totaling $12 million. Residents in other communities that have organized a Gives Day have overwhelmingly shown their support through donations, and while the immediate benefit is huge, the ripple effects of giving have helped spur other philanthropic endeavors in these communities. According to organizers in Minnesota, Colorado, North Texas, Pittsburgh, Seattle and other communities with a Gives Day, a key ingredient to their success has been through the support of the local media.
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| Each year, over 1,200 women and children come to Pathways' Day Center for a hot lunch, showers, life skills classes, and other services to help them get back on their feet. |
“Rarely do local TV, Radio and Newspaper groups have an opportunity to make such a large impact on behalf of dozens of nonprofits in their local communities in just one day,” said Russell A. Jackson, Gives Day Manager for Alabama. “Alabama Gives Day certainly makes for an interesting news story, but it’s more than that. This is a day to help fuel the nonprofits that make our state such a great place to live and to help jumpstart their 2012 efforts.”
How does Alabama Gives Day work? On February 2, from midnight to 11:59pm, Alabamians will be driven to a dedicated online giving portal powered by Razoo at www.alabamagivesday.org where they will choose to make a gift to one or more of the hundreds of participating nonprofits.
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| A volunteer leads children in a crafts project during Pathways' Learning to Be a Kid class. |
“Connecting individual donors to nonprofits, while also promoting the safety and ease of online giving, is critical to helping our nonprofits be sustainable,” said John Stone, President and CEO for the Alabama Association of Nonprofits. “Never before has an event of this magnitude taken place in our state. This will be a defining moment for Alabama nonprofits participating in the event and the impact will be felt far and wide. We’ve seen what Minnesota, Colorado and other Gives Days have done, and with Alabama’s strong tradition of giving we believe that history can be made on February 2nd.”
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| Pathways' Day Center is located at its downtown Birmingham facility, 409 Richard Arrington, Jr. Blvd N. |
