Friday, January 30, 2015

Four Straight Years of Grant Support has secured food needs for thousands of underfunded UVA Hospital Guests and Out-patients

As we entered 2015, the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band in the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (CACF) provided a Grant of $6,000.00. This grant is solely dedicated to our Food Program. With this grant the Fund has contributed a total of $34,000.00 in the last four years.  Interfaith Humanitarian Sanctum (IHS) is just one of fifty-four (54) Organizations in Central Virginia area receiving $354,300.00 in grant awards as this New Year begins. 

This Grant is impacting on two distinctive IHS food programs

The UVA Hospitality House (HH).  The thirty(30) room facility which can lodge about sixty(60) people is the only affordable opportunity for lodging for indigent and unfunded long distance out-patients and caregivers who must come for treatment at the UVA Medical Center in Charlottesville. UVA Hospitality House does not have a budget for food and kitchen related items, and is supported through donations. Although HH receives a small grant from the Emergency Food Bank, the most consistent supplier is IHS. And this specific grant has been the main reason for this charity's ability to secure a monthly fulfillment of needs for HH guests.

The Full-day Meal Packet Program.  IHS stocks a large cabinet in the Office of Social Work in the main hospital, which allows UVA Social Workers 24/7 access to provide underfunded guests with proper nourishment. Presently, from 250-300 full-day meal packets are delivered monthly. This translates in an active use year to 3,000 packets, or approximately $19,500.00. The program is mostly a community effort, whereby churches, schools, clubs, scouts, day-care centers, businesses, hospital clinics and families buy and assemble packets and deliver to IHS volunteers to keep the cabinet full year-round.  When participation is reduced in summer and holidays, the Bama Works Fund is accessed to purchase supplies for maintaining consistent delivery to the Office of Social Work.

A Special Letter from Mary Jackson, Supervisor, UVA Hospitality House
"IHS support is crucial to Hospitality House. The other sources of food for our guests do not come close to meeting our needs. Your supplies are in such contrast to the contents of other donations, especially food like fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy products, cereals, and eggs - the kinds of foods that really help a high percentage of our indigent guests. Your personal attention to purchasing food as needed, and with delivery of items this past year from Whole Foods and Hot Cakes Restaurant was an added bonus for guests. The absence of budgeted funds for food leaves us totally reliant on contributions to help the increasing number of guests, more and more of whom stay in excess of six weeks. I could go on with proof of your importance, but let me repeat that what you do is absolutely vital to the well-being of our guests."
To the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band in CACF Committee ... Thank you for allowing this group of volunteers the needed funds to assist in the feeding of the least able visitors to our community.

Sincerely ... ALL of IHS, the UVA Social Staff and UVA Hospitality House Staff


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