The Other Place

Local creative firm FORGE held their first annual FORGE Your Dot Org program, inviting local nonprofits to apply for pro-bono professional marketing and creative services for a full year. Twenty-four Miami Valley nonprofits, including The Other Place, applied for this program, and in mid-January, FORGE announced TOP as the winner.

We are excited about the changes that will be coming out of our collaboration with FORGE in 2010. TOP Executive Director Tina Patterson remarked, "The Board and staff of The Other Place have just completed a three-year Strategic Plan, and one of our core areas is marketing and communications. We believe we are one of Dayton's best kept secrets, and with the help of FORGE, we intend to promote the great work we provide to this area's most vulnerable population: the homeless."

To learn more about the FORGE Your Dot Org program and to receive updates as the project with TOP progresses, visit its website, FORGEYour.Org. If you would like to donate any marketing-related services or materials to aid TOP in its collaboration with FORGE, please contact FORGE at 937-461-6560.

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Wright State basketball team spent their day off practicing and shooting hoops with the men at the Gettysburg Gateway. The men's shelter features a full-length indoor basketball court that TOP Executive Director Tina Patterson fought to keep intact so that the gateway's residents would be able to exercise while staying at the shelter. When WSU's basketball team arrived, the stands overlooking the court were filled with about 100 residents who eagerly waited to watch the team play and practice with the gateway's most avid players. Their game was not the only thing WSU's basketball team brought; they also brought with them a donation of work-out clothes and other sporting equipment to encourage the men to keep exercising.

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!

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.

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.