My Dear Family,
A 1997 survey of 29 cities across the United States found that families are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Coupled with recent cuts in public assistance where the monthly level of income for a family of three has dropped from $775 in 1991 to $565 in 1999, 45% of homeless women surveyed in Los Angeles reported that they were homeless because they lost a job. There are more women and children on the streets of our country than ever before! Sometimes, only a slight bit of assistance could have made the difference in keeping them from slipping through the cracks of society.
Heartfelt wants to help. We have created our Adopt-A-Family Program to provide opportunities for average ordinary people like us to participate in simple, easy ways in lending a helping hand to families that are in crisis. We do this because we know that most people also want to help, but don’t know where or how to begin.
The Adopt-A-Family Program matches individuals, families, classrooms, clubs, businesses, departments, or any group, with a family that is in need of temporary and very basic support to remain intact. The support could range from buying groceries every other month or so, buying clothes or shoes for the children periodically, paying for child care for the parent to attend job training, providing assistance with doctor’s visits for the children, or actual jobs for the parent(s).
This service, monitored by Heartfelt, would then become the safety net, an extended family of sorts, plugging in some of the holes leading an at-risk family into homelessness and complete breakdown.
The purpose of the program, along with aiding those most fragile and at-risk, is to provide innovative bridges for the average citizen to play a meaningful role in addressing and effecting positive social change through their personal contribution in the care of other citizens in need. Additionally, it broadens the opportunities for a greater number of people to be included and involved in the solution to a very distressing problem.
Please join Heartfelt by first of all, holding this vision and program in the Light of your hearts. Next, if you are moved and/or inclined to find out more about how you can participate in the program, please call us at: (310) 829-7857 or email us at: prayner@heartfelt.org.
We are family!
In loving, Patti Rayner
HEARTFELT THANKSGIVING HARVEST SERVICE PROJECT
Heartfelt’s Thanksgiving Harvest Service Project (Family to Family) will take place in Los Angeles on November 20, 1999. We invite you to participate in this very special annual event where 250 Heartfelt families feed 250 hungry families.
HEARTFELT WORLDWIDE CHRISTMAS SERVICE PROJECT
December 18-25, 1999
We invite you to participate with loving hearts on every continent in filling our planet with Heartfelt service sometime during the week of December 18-25.
Service Projects can be for 2 or 200 as long as the focus is on holding a consciousness of service and sharing love and caring with those who are in need. Projects are already confirmed across the United States, Africa, Mexico, South America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Please join us in service this holiday season. To participate, contact your local Heartfelt Representative or the Headquarters office at: (310) 829-7857.