SHAL Raising Funds for Homeless Bus Tickets

The Southernmost Homeless Assistance League (SHAL) is asking for community support for its popular reunification program this holiday season.

SHAL’s goal is to improve the quality of life for all residents and visitors to the community, and SHAL’s remarkable case managers work directly with each person experiencing homelessness individually to address each person’s particular issues. Most homeless persons have been affected by external issues and need a hand up to resume a permanently housed, self-sufficient life. Problems including health & mental health, employment, domestic violence, family break up and substance abuse can lead many of us to the very precarious and life-threatening condition of being without permanent housing. SHAL works to address these issues with our clients, and have been able to assist many of our neighbors to remain in the Keys in permanent housing. Among SHAL’s programs are healthcare, employment and housing, and we work hard to provide a clean, sanitary, restful Shelter to help homeless persons get back on their feet.

But The Keys can be a tough place to make ends meet due to the high costs of housing & living and low wages for unskilled workers. Sometimes a person’s best option is to relocate “back home” where family, friends, housing and employment can more easily add up to self-sufficiency. Until very recently, SHAL had a voluntary “bus ticket” program that had successfully purchased over 350 tickets for homeless persons to get them to a location on the mainland where they can again afford housing and life’s essentials. (Clients voluntarily agree not to return to Monroe County.)

This holiday season, we are asking for donations to reinstitute this program. Please visit www.shalkw.org to make an online donation or send a check to SHAL at PO Box 2990, Key West FL 33045. Include on your check memo line or the online form “bus ticket” and we will use your gift exclusively for reuniting homeless persons, hopefully before the end of the year. Please contact Executive Director John Miller at [email protected] if you need more information.

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