Maryhouse

Community of Supporters, You show up for us time and time again - month after month through the pandemic you've continued to drop off donations, fundraise and send us love. We are so grateful for you. It's Big Day of Giving season. Would you support us again? We've set a fundraising goal and would love you to help us reach it. ... All the info you need is in the original post below! With love, Maryhouse

If you can spare a minute, please send in a comment to help people experiencing homelessness stay sheltered through the pandemic via Project RoomKey. Info below.

Our community of supporters - of all ages- are fierce and dedicated, even through a pandemic! Look at these young women, Madi (pink hoodie) & Sydney (black jacket) dropping off the donations they collected all on their own! Madi has started a long term project to collect tennis ball containers from local tennis courts and groups which we re-use as hygiene kit containers! She and her mom have already dropped off nearly 600 containers with regular donations on the way! Sydney ...worked from November 2020 until a few weeks ago to collect funds & menstrual supplies for our guests for a school project. Madi & Sydney, you're both incredible & we are so grateful for you! To find out how you can get involved, just like Madi & Sydney, reach out to our Program Director at [email protected]. We have plenty of ideas!

Meet the Tommy Clinkenbeard Legal Clinic! Sacramento Loaves & Fishes guests are welcome to receive free legal services as listed below. This is just one of the many programs on campus!

Our work is animated by a mission rooted in hospitality which extends to our neighbors experiencing homelessness, even in their death. Just as we would have in her life, we hold this woman close this week. We lament that her life was lost all too soon while she fought for survival on the streets of Sacramento.

Did you know that Sacramento Loaves & Fishes has a monthly newsletter delivered straight to your email box? If you're already on the list, go check your email now. If not, go to sacloaves.org & scroll to the bottom of the screen to sign up!

Families in our community continue to live unsheltered, we need your help to hold our elected officials accountable! You have shown up before so here's another chance! More info in the original post below.

[CW: Death] Not even 2 months into 2021 and Maryhouse is grieving the loss of 4 of our guests. Our work is to hold space for women and families in life and in death; while the pandemic doesn't allow us to gather and remember in the ways we have historically, we light a candle for our dearly loved women who have died all too soon. ... Today, our candle is lit for Nina. May she Rest in Power.

#BlackHistoryMonth: Entering into a conversation about #BlackHistory requires that we go pretty far back, today we go to the 16th - 19th century. Saidiya Hartman's "Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Salve Route" reflects upon the current impact of the transatlantic slave route. ... She discusses being a stranger, generational loss & trauma, exile, and more. Hartman herself is a descendant of people enslaved, she spends time excavating the consequences of slavery on the Diaspora. As we serve our guests, "Lose Your Mother" is required reading for understanding the nuance of trauma and oppression, join us in learning from Saidiya Hartman.

Join us in welcoming back former Mustard Seed Director, Angela Hassell as our new Executive Director. Read more about Angela below.

"At Loaves and Fishes we do so many things well but perhaps the best is that we always show up. On that dark Wednesday, this campus was a beacon of community care and a light in the darkness." Read more from our Community Newsletter here: https://mailchi.mp//loaves-fishes-may-2020-community-newsl

Every Friday this month we'd like to share some #BlackHistoryMonth facts with you, our community. Have you heard of the Combahee River Collective? They published a Collective Statement in 1977 which advocated for centering collective needs of those who are most oppressed. They believed in reorganizing for those pushed to the margins and this text remains one of the most foundational works of Black feminism and Black liberation. ... The Combahee River Collective's work was and continues to be revolutionary as it centered Black women, particularly Black LGBTQ+ women whose voices weren't heard as loudly in their time and still today. At Maryhouse we learn from the Combahee River Collective as we serve our guests living at the intersections of multiple identities and we recognize the debt we owe to the strong women of the Collective for elevating work that is so powerful. Read the Combahee River Collective's Statement here: https://www.blackpast.org//combahee-river-collective-stat/

On Tuesday night, as the City Council held their meeting, wind ripped through the region bringing a storm we knew was coming. We also knew that our vulnerable neighbors experiencing homelessness were fighting to survive with less visibility due to street lights being out, branches falling from the sky, trees crashing down and encampments being literally swept away by the wind. The true horrors of Tuesday night can only really be known by those who lived through them with no... support from the City (or County) but the The Sacramento Bee has given us a glimpse of just how horrific it all was. On Wednesday morning, our campus community did what we could to support our guests after the storm, all with limited power. Read more about Tuesday night and Wednesday morning here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article248818310.html

Things will be different but the same this year for Thanksgiving. We are still setting our table for our guests, just outside and of course it will be a delicious and filling meal thanks to the amazing Dining Room Team and community volunteers! See below for info on how you can help us make this meal a great one!

Attention Maryhouse Volunteers! We miss you and would love to see you if even for a quick masked and distanced hello. How about signing up to help our friends at Sister Nora's Place with dinner? All the info is below, please reach out to Kansas with any questions!... If you are unable to help, consider sharing this post.

If you have a moment, please consider posting a public comment (link below) asking the City Council to reconsider the parking proposal found at Agenda Item 21. Should this proposal be voted through tonight, our neighbors experiencing homelessness, volunteers and staff will be negatively impacted by very restrictive parking regulations.

We are OPEN today! Also, note our modified hours for Wednesday.

Content Warning: Descriptions of physical violence. At Maryhouse we endeavor to provide a safe and hospitable space for women and families experiencing homelessness. This often means providing a safe space for survivors of domestic or intimate partner violence to tell their stories. ... Note: While Maryhouse is not a DV shelter we do listen to our guests, hold space for their trauma and refer them to expert community partners.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, nationally recognized with the goal of expanding awareness to the complexity of domestic violence and its effect on people. Join us this month as we share stories, facts and resources. #DVAM2020

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY ALERT!!

Did you know that Sacramento Loaves & Fishes is a 5 acre campus with over a dozen programs serving subpopulations of people experiencing homelessness? Learn more about what we do by following our other campus community accounts! Have questions? Let us know!

Sacramento Loaves & Fishes is hiring! There is even a position at Maryhouse. If you're interested, click the link and definitely share this post! https://sacloaves.org/current-openings/blog

Sacramento Loaves & Fishes is hiring! Click for info! https://sacloaves.org/current-openings/blog

"While those of us who are housed are inconvenienced by this horrible air quality, the people we serve are absolutely devastated and in danger because of it." Join us, call your local representative to ask for clean air centers for people experiencing homelessness.

As the world, and our county in particular, continue to grapple with the realities of COVID-19, we are feeling the impacts of wildfire season. Sacramento is enveloped in smoke and ash, it's hard to remember what the unfiltered sun even looks like. Public Health professionals have warned that people should stay indoors & limit outdoor activity. For our guests and the thousands of people experiencing homelessness on the streets of Sacramento this warning is impossible to abide.... Fires persist and the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow leaving thousands with no option but to endure air quality that is considered hazardous. In the same way that we need cooling centers in the heat and warming centers in the cold, we need clean air centers until our air quality is considered good enough for folks to breathe with no danger to their already compromised health. While those of us who are housed are inconvenienced by this horrible air quality, the people we serve are absolutely devastated and in danger because of it. Consider contacting your local elected representative today to urge them to open clean air centers immediately

During the pandemic Friendship Park (Sacramento Loaves & Fishes)has taken on the huge job of serving all of our guests breakfast. While we miss serving breakfast in our dining room every day we are so grateful for this campus community showing up for our guests! Have you been looking for a way to get involved at Loaves and Fishes?Are you a Maryhouse Breakfast Volunteer Group eager to get to serving again?... We have a great idea, check out the post below!

We are done with quarantine and will be back to work tomorrow! We’ll open a couple hours later than usual as we’ll need to prep, see you at 9 AM.

The Maryhouse team has missed being on campus so much but we are incredibly grateful for the wildly supportive campus community who have kept services going for us through quarantine. Pictures here are staff from Jail Visitation and Mustard Seed School; we also owe thanks to TC Legal Clinic. We are back with full services on Monday and can’t wait!