Winter Appeal 2020

To Our Sussex County Friends and Neighbors,

2020 has been a year of incredible challenges. COVID-19 has reshaped society in ways we never imagined and no one has been left unaffected by these changes. Samaritan Inn has continued assisting homeless families throughout the pandemic. Our doors have remained open, we have never stopped answering our phones or helping the most vulnerable in our society. We have implemented many protocols to ensure the safety of our families, staff and volunteers. Throughout this entire year, we have remained steadfast to our mission to help families rebuild their lives and successfully discharge them back into society. Even in the midst of these trying times, we have helped several families secure permanent housing and continue on the road to financial stability. Yet, we know the need will grow greater in the coming months as eviction moratoriums are lifted and unemployment benefits run out. There will be more people in need.
During this time, we are also busy renovating a building that we bought with the proceeds of the Impact 100 grant. This new building will have the capacity to house an additional 3 families, bringing our total to 14 families we can house at any time. It cannot be accomplished soon enough as we feel we are racing against the clock to get this building ready to house those who will be facing evictions.

Due to COVID-19, we were forced to cancel our 2020 spring Tricky Tray and our fall Grape Expectations. These are our 2 large fundraisers that we rely on. With cuts in government funding and loss of grants, the need is greater for your support.

Samaritan Inn is turning to you for financial help. We are asking our friends, neighbors and local businesses to partner with us as we strive to make Sussex County a place where every family has a home and a place where children never have to fear where they will be sleeping. Please remember that your donation is tax deductible and every donation goes for the greater good to help the homeless families of Sussex County.

Just to give you an example of how your donation helps, our Family Shelter program provided 9,052 nights of shelter for 46 families in our 11 apartments and our food pantry distributed over 1,000 bags of food to the community. We also taught 83 clients how to budget and save money while preparing healthy meals through our Cooking with Coupons program. Our Family Shelter program had an 88% success rate of moving families into permanent housing.

It is now more important than ever that we can continue to help our community. If you can help in any way, please know how greatly appreciated you are!

Sincerely,
Samaritan Inn Staff and Board of Directors wish you a safe and warm holiday season.