The Other Place

This year Dorothy Lane Market will donate $40,000 to local nonprofits through its Good Neighbor Program. As enrolled Club DLM members shop, all of their purchases are credited to the nonprofit of their choice. At the end of the year, the amount credited to each nonprofit determines the percentage of the $40,000 DLM will donate to that nonprofit.

If you are a DLM Club member and would like to raise money for The Other Place as you shop at DLM, you can fill out this enrollment form and turn it in at your local DLM, or you can visit DLM's website, insert your name, DLM Club number, and The Other Place's charity ID number (418), then press submit. It's that easy!

If you have previously enrolled in this program and would like to participate again, you will need to re-enroll for 2010. Once you have enrolled, all you need to do is spend at least $500 at DLM by the end of the year and you will have raised some much-needed funds for TOP!

October 20^th marked the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Gettysburg Gateway for Men. Located at 1921 S. Gettysburg Ave., the newly renovated building can house 178 men, with an additional overflow area that can accommodate up to 60 more. The Gettysburg Gateway for Men is a collaboration between The Other Place, St. Vincent de Paul Society, County Corp, the City of Dayton, and Montgomery County. Steve Naas, CEO of County Corp and past President of The Other Place Board of Directors, presided over the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Along with the new facility comes a greater emphasis on providing "housing-focused" case management services. A greater sense of urgency in moving people out of homelessness is being impressed upon the men staying in the Gateway. With this new sense of urgency, The Other Place case managers are working towards an aggressive goal of moving men out of the Gettysburg Gateway for Men within 14 days of entering.

The Other Place is developing programs and providing case management at both the Gettysburg Gateway for Men and the St. Vincent Gateway for Women and Families. While the building construction is complete on Gettysburg and the men have relocated, the work is not over. The Other Place, along with our partner St. Vincent de Paul, will continue to rely on the community for volunteers and donations; with two facilities, we will now need your support more than ever.

The Other Place's Homelessness Prevention program helps low-income households who are at risk of becoming homeless, by providing short-term financial assistance and longer-term case management. As an incentive for our Prevention clients to continue meeting with a case manager to help them remain stably housed, we want to periodically offer each household a "Stimulus Package" with nonperishable food and household items -- to help them stretch their budget. TOP would like to challenge the community to provide at least 60 of these packages per month, like the one pictured here. To learn more about this new project, including ideas for items to put in each package, view and print our PDF flyer or call us at (937) 293-1945.

GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered Internet search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. The next time you want to search for something on the Internet, just go to www.goodsearch.com and enter The Other Place as the charity you want to support. You can help TOP raise funds without ever leaving your desk!

The Other Place has a newsletter called TOPics to help keep our friends informed of the progress we're making. The current issue features information on various TOP programs and projects, including updates from River Commons, Kettering Commons, and our Opportunity Housing program for veterans. The newsletter is posted online in PDF format for easy reading and printing. To read the current issue, click HERE.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness, with the support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has produced a video that highlights how communities across the country are decreasing homelessness among families. To watch the 15-minute video, click HERE.