While it’s true the holiday season is about spending time with family and friends, it’s also about giving to others, especially neighbors who are experiencing homelessness. The City’s Office of Homeless Solutions and its partner, the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance (MDHA) are encouraging the public to forego street charity and instead donate to the shelters that serve the homeless. It is one of the most effective ways to alleviate the suffering of neighbors living outdoors.
“Though intentions are good, street charity encourages people experiencing homelessness to remain on the streets rather than seek help from a homeless service provider,” said Christine Crossley, Director of the Office of Homeless Solutions. “Volunteering and or donating to the shelters is much more sustainable and beneficial for our residents’ housing needs.”
With generous contributions from individuals, families, churches and businesses, the shelters can sustain and maintain a level of care and support particularly as the demand grows during the winter months. Shelters are safe havens that provide essentials such as food, blankets, pillows, towels and clothing, but other resources as well to address mental illness, domestic violence, joblessness and ultimately permanent housing.
It takes private and public donations and government assistance for shelters, like The Bridge to provide free meals three times per day, everyday of the year. The homeless service providers offer a myriad of free services that are costly.
There are a number of homeless service providers in need of volunteers and donations. To see how you can help MDHA’s Dallas Real-Time Rapid Rehousing Initiative assist our neighbors, click here and for a full list of local shelters, click on the link below.
Office of Homeless Solutions resources for responsible giving
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NEW YORK—As part of the City’s COVID-19 humanitarian relief efforts, Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced the City of New York has donated medical supplies and personal protective equipment to Tamale Teaching Hospital in Northern Ghana. Tamale Teaching Hospital provides highly specialized tertiary medical care to over 100,000 patients each year and is a teaching hospital for undergraduate and postgraduate medical students and other health professionals. NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Section for Global Health leads the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) Consortium of academic health centers in the AMPATH Ghana partnership with the University for Development Studies School of Medicine, Tamale Teaching Hospital, and other affiliated institutions in northern Ghana.
Delivery of the donation will be aided by the Afya Foundation, which brings donated medical supplies to underserved and compromised health systems globally. Donated supplies will include test kits, N95 masks, isolation gowns, and face shields.
“Early on during the COVID-19 crisis, communities across the nation and the world stepped up to help to New York City,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Now, it’s our turn. This donation to our partners in Ghana is another example of New York City’s commitment to helping communities across the world fight against COVID-19.”
“Just like New York City received assistance when we needed it most, it is our moral duty to assist others facing the threat of COVID-19 around the world,” said Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Melanie Hartzog. “I thank NYU, the Afya Foundation and our City agencies for coming together to make this donation to Ghana possible.”
“New York City was the epicenter at the beginning of the pandemic, and the world came together to help us in getting lifesaving PPE to our medical workers,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Chokshi. “We continue to stand in solidarity with our friends in Ghana and with other communities around the world in the global fight against COVID-19.”
“The global challenge of COVID-19 requires all of us to come together to help save lives,” said Lisette Camilo, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services. “New York City was very fortunate in the support we received during the early days of the pandemic, and we are proud to pay it forward and help those who are most in need today.”
“Several layers of collaborations and partnerships at different levels have helped culminate in these donations from Afya and the NYC to help in Ghana’s Covid-19 fight,” said Dr. Kareem Mumuni, Ag. CEO – Tamale Teaching Hospital. “As a healthcare facility, the Tamale Teaching Hospital is excited because, not only will we be beneficiaries of this support, but more so because we will serve as conduit for these items to reach other healthcare facilities within the hard-to-reach areas of Northern Ghana, as well as other sister teaching, secondary and primary healthcare facilities in other regions of the country. We are grateful to all our partners and collaborators. Together, we can indeed achieve more!”
“We are delighted that our Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) Ghana partnership has catalyzed this donation, and we hope it will strengthen Ghana’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Dr. Rajesh Vedanthan, Executive Director of AMPATH Ghana and the Director of the Section for Global Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “It is a wonderful example of how we can leverage the power of academic institutions to improve population health and advance global health equity.”
“We were proud to connect NYU-Langone with DCAS in pursuit of this critical initiative,” said Danielle Butin, Founder and CEO, Afya Foundation. “With over a decade of experience delivering surplus medical supplies to communities in need all over the world, we are honored to lend our logistics expertise to this initiative. This donation is a beautiful example of what can happen when we work together and are generous with our resources.”
“Our AMPATH partnership with NYU Grossman School of Medicine and Tamale Teaching Hospital is guided by the principle of leading with care,” said Professor Stephen Tabiri, Dean, University for Development Studies School of Medicine, Tamale. “Therefore, we are excited to see our partnership generate this substantial donation of medical supplies to augment our COVID-19 response, both locally and across the country.”
“CalBank PLC, Ghana, is excited to be part of this PPE donation project as a partner responsible for financing the shipping cost,” said Mr. Philip Owiredu, CEO CalBank. “We recognize that our continued existence and success is dependent on working together with the right partners to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. CalBank will continue to deliver on its responsibility, concern and commitment towards our society’s sustainability and development.”
Donated items were recently shipped to Ghana and should arrive in early December. The donation includes 1.2 million test kits, nearly 150,000 N95 masks, 30,000 isolation gowns, and 7,500 face shields, with a total value estimated at over $4.7 million.
The donation announced today follows COVID-19 response-related donations the City made to India in May, and to Indonesia in August 2021.
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