Neighbor Impact 2020 Guide

Our mission: "Supporting people, strengthening communities."

Our purpose: Assess local needs and tackle the causes of poverty

NeighborImpact is creative, resourceful and flexible in designing services to meet the needs of the community. We do this while maintaining the highest standards of excellence and accountability to clients, donors and the public. www.instagram.com/neighborimpact

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www.neighborimpact.org

November 19, 2020

Dear Readers, We hold that acting purposefully on this earth means doing purposeful work.

Persons experiencing homelessness sleep outside in the dead of winter. With your help, and at the behest of the Homeless Leadership Coalition, we set that right. We opened and operate a winter warming shelter in Bend to accommodate 48 adults experiencing homelessness, along with their pets.

Who We Help Although many of our services target the economically disadvantaged, we provide services to a wide range of individuals. Our services help sustain families, food, homes and jobs in Central Oregon. All of Central Oregon benefits from the economic boost and community building support provided by NeighborImpact.

People living right here among us go hungry. With your help, we set that right. Every month, we distribute food for more than 31,000 individuals; a third those served at USDA pantries are children.

Hard-working people stricken by an unforeseen event – an illness, a car repair, a divorce - face eviction because, suddenly, they can’t stretch their income to cover rent. With your help, we set that right. We provide one-time rental assistance that helps people get or stay in housing. The fact that nearly half of those served are children under 18 says a lot about the consequences of helping - or not helping – these households.

Seniors can lose their homes because they can’t afford repairs or because their spouse passed away, leaving them with one Social Security check. With your help, we set that right. We make low interest loans for new rooves, septic systems or critical structural repairs; weatherize their homes for energy efficiency; or even guide them through foreclosure prevention.

The work we do at NeighborImpact is right in every way.

We embrace it, because, as I said, acting purposefully means doing purposeful work. With your help, we will follow that path. Your support makes you a part of our success as an effective organization, part of every good thing we do, and part of every client’s life-changing transition from poverty to stability.

Your partnership in our mission makes us what we are: uniquely capable, experienced and knowledgeable to meet, head on, the challenges that concern us all. Today, I ask that you make as thoughtful a donation as you can to support Neighborimpact. Join us!

Together, we are a wonder.

Suzette Chapman Chief Development Officer

Above: Successful Head Start student Hansel on graduation day; Weatherization recipient, Joyce, in front of her newly repaired home

What We Do Since 1985, NeighborImpact has been a leader in developing solutions and bringing resources to Crook, Jefferson, and Deschutes County and The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. We offer a range of services meeting basic human needs, while also giving people tools to build hopeful futures. Emergency food and shelter, rental and energy assistance, financial coaching, home weatherization, first time homebuyer coaching, down payment and mortgage assistance, and child care provider resources are just some of the services people can obtain at NeighborImpact.

Experiencing Homelessness: Michael's Story Meet Michael Armstrong and his beloved pup, Rodney.

A few years ago, Michael lived the life he had dreamed of, planned for, and worked to achieve. He and his wife owned their home in Portland that they had paid off after 40 years of work. They had an RV in the garage, alongside a vintage hot-rod Michael was restoring. Then, as it happens with millions of families, Michael’s wife contracted breast cancer. Michael had to choose between paying for homeowners insurance and buying medicine. He chose medicine.

Very suddenly, in the course of three horrible weeks. Michael’s world fell apart.

His son was killed in action in Afghanistan; cancer took his wife; and their uninsured home and garage burned to the ground due to faulty installation of a water heater by a company that went out of business. He lost everything he owned and loved.

Homeless, and with Portland housing costs out of sight, Michael found his way to Bend five years ago. His Social Security income does not cover the cost of living in Central Oregon, either. He has lived in a shelter and a homeless Winter Warming Shelter guest campsite, where other campers have stolen his tent and supplies three times.

Michael and his pup, Rodney He was struck by a hit-and-run driver, suffered a stroke and lost sight in one eye. He has come through it all not only with love for others but also with enough faith in the future to adopt his adorable puppy, Rodney, who brings love and joy to his life.

While awaiting a permanent home, and because he is at high-risk of contracting COVID-19, Michael and Rodney stay in our Isolation Shelter. You may see them around Bend. Michael wears a pink hat to remember his wife and honor her fight against cancer. After reading this, you can see him as someone who lived a good, honest life - and still does. He represents those persons who have become homeless not because of anything they brought on themselves but through loss, pure and simple. “We’re not all drug addicts and drunks. A few bad people ruin it for everyone,” said Michael.

Michael has two fears: becoming blind and dying on the street. He has two wishes: to have a roof over his and Rodney’s heads and to be treated like a human being. If you or someone you know has a place to rent to persons like Michael, call NeighborImpact’s Housing Stabilization program at 541-548-2380, ext. 210.

They want a world where no one goes hungry.

So they give to NeighborImpact.

She wants a world that prioritizes equity.

So she gives to NeighborImpact.

He wants a world where people think about the next generations.

So he gives to NeighborImpact.

Linda Crouse and Chris Cassard, retirees, help feed thousands of people a year by donating to NeighborImpact's food bank.

Joan Smith Anable, Public Services Specialist, Deschutes Public Library, found a way to foster fairness and opportunity for the less fortunate through NeighborImpact.

Dan McGarigle, owner of Pine Mountain Sports, trusts NeighborImpact to deliver services people care about during and beyond their lifetimes.

He wants a world where people use their resources to solve problems.

So he gives to NeighborImpact.

Jack Schniepp, owner of Cascade Financial Strategies, looks to NeighborImpact as a way to address the community's most pressing needs.

Get Help Founded in 1985, NeighborImpact is a private, not-for-profit organization serving all of Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties and The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. We envision a Central Oregon where residents, regardless of their income status, have hope, optimism and access to community resources that see them through times of need.

Food Bank Head Start & Early Head Start Child Care Resources Housing Stabilization Energy Assistance & Education HomeSource Lending Weatherization Community Development Representative Payee

Food

Home and Business

Head Start

Housing

Individuals Served

These numbers reflect the impact of services for calendar year 2019.

Give Help During the COVID-19 Crisis The Coronavirus outbreak reminds us how things can change for people, and how very quickly. One day, folks are busy taking food orders, serving drinks or selling tickets at the movie theater. The next day, BAM! they find themselves sent home for an indefinite length of time - but the rent is still due, and the kids are hungry.

At times like these, NeighborImpact works harder than usual to fill critical gaps. In an average year, we provide about 360,000 individual services - food, a rent check, a paid energy bill, insulation in an attic, help buying that first home, preschool for the child of a budding (but still struggling) entrepreneur, bill payment for a senior in the early stages of Alzheimer's. The list goes on.

About two thirds of our assistance comes from federal and state sources. For the rest, we depend on people like you. Your financial help, especially in a time of crisis, allows us to make things right again for people whose daily lives have gone very wrong, very quickly. A donation of any amount will help us keep essential, life-giving support flowing to the neighbor next door.

Thank you for donating to NeighborImpact today at

https://www.neighborimpact.org/give-help/donate/