How You Can Help
The Task Force welcomes your participation in ending homelessness. Here are some ways you can get more directly involved.
Attend Task Force General Meetings - First Monday of each month (2nd Monday in September), 9:30 AM to 11:15 AM, First United Methodist Church, 1551 Montgomery Drive, Santa Rosa (McMullin room - brown door to the right of the main courtyard entrance). All are welcome. You do not need to be a member. For information contact Georgia Berland at gberland@aol.com.
Join the Task Force - Please visit Join Now section of this web site.
Serve on the Task Force Advocacy and Funding Committee to advocate for affordable housing, policies which support access to housing such as Jobs Housing Linkage fees, and Living Wage ordinances, user-friendly funding processes, and homeless shelter and services funds: You may also help greatly by just showing up and/or testifying at public hearings on these issues. Contact Gale Brownell at galephil@pacbell.net or through the Task Force office, 575-4494.
Serve on the Task Force Education Committee to inform the community about the causes of and solutions to local homelessness by gathering and disseminating information through our Reporter newsletter, this web site, media appearances, articles, opinion pieces, and speaking engagements. Contact the Task Force office at sctfhmls@pacbell.net or 575-4494.
Participate in developing collaborative projects such as the Court Homeless Protocol Project described elsewhere on this site. Contact Georgia Berland through the Task Force office at sctfhmls@pacbell.net or 575-4494.
Serve on the Task Force Fundraising Committee to help raise funds to sustain the work of the Task Force. Contact the Task Force office at sctfhmls@pacbell.net or 575-4494.
Attend, Sponsor, and/or Contribute an Auction Item to October in Paradise, the Task Force's Annual Dinner Dance and Auction at Paradise Ridge Winery, this year on October 14. Contact the Task Force office at sctfhmls@pacbell.net or 575-4494.
Participate in the Continuum of Care Planning Group which meets quarterly to help integrate homeless services countywide, and to secure funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Contact Jenny Helbraun Abramson at ContinuumofCare@starband.net or c/o Grant Writing Services, 708 Gravenstein Hwy N.,PMB #95, Sebastopol, CA 95472.
Participate in a Committee of the Continuum of Care. Please see our Master Calendar on this site for contacts and next meeting dates.
- Community Acceptance Committee
- Ending Chronic Homelessness Committee
- Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Committee
- Housing Development Committee
- Service Integration, Training, and Information Management (SITIM)
Volunteer at a homeless shelter or service agency. Call the Volunteer Center of Sonoma County at 573-3399 (Santa Rosa), 762-0111 (Petaluma) or 996-4644 (Sonoma) or directly contact the agency with which you'd like to work.
Contribute Funds to the Task Force - Please see our Invest in Ending Homelessness page.
Help the Task Force and Gain Tax Advantages Through a Planned Gift (Trust, Bequest).
Automobile donations are a cinch with the Sonoma County Task Force For The Homeless. We'll take those unwanted automobiles and the proceeds will support the Sonoma County Task Force For The Homeless. Your automobile donation is important to our funding. Give us a hand by making an automobile donation.
Contribute Funds to the Sonoma County Fund for the Homeless or to a local homeless service provider to support direct services. Please see our Sonoma County Fund for the Homeless page.
Educate yourself, your friends, family, and colleagues about the issue of homelessness and how we can work together to solve it.
Support affordable housing and/or shelter and service projects when they are proposed in your community.
When confronted by a panhandler, offer food, water, work, and/or directions to service, shelter, and/or meal programs. Make eye contact and treat the person with the normal kindness and respect you would accord a stranger. Handing out cash is discouraged.
Envision a future where everyone in Sonoma County has access to safe, secure, affordable housing and the services they may need to stabilize and sustain themselves.
Know that by working together we can achieve that vision.