Following the death of her husband, Susan found herself on the streets in Wichita, KS. She came to us at an extremely difficult time in her life. Furthermore, she was deep in debt. Over the course of her time at the shelter, she diligently worked to recover in every way, including financially. She is now debt-free. We are so proud of her! And because she paid off her debts, she was able to move out of the shelter and into an apartment — the first apartment, in fact, in which she has lived all on her own.
She promptly went out and adopted an adorable cat, Chloe, from the Lawrence Humane Society! Susan is just thrilled. What really motivated her to get her affairs in order so she could live independently, she says, is that she so very much wanted to have her grandchildren come stay with her and to make cookies for them. Now she can, and will. Your support has helped her find her positive path.
Have you had a recent tour of LCS? We have made a few updates. Contact, Mia Gonzalez, Director of Development, miag@lawrenceshelter.org.
“We look at our accomplishments here at the Lawrence Community Shelter and feel pride in our work. We have concern for the most vulnerable members of our community and hope for their futures. Thank you for your support for homeless families and individuals. We are in this together as a community.”
We were honored to choose Mike Brouwer for the First Annual Civic Integrity Awardfor his focus and expertise on these issues, and his perspective and hard work on coordinating local community resources for those who need it most. The purpose of this talk was to further the constructive dialogue on issues of how our community faces the co-occurence of homelessness, criminal justice, and mental health.
As Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson stated, “How do we work with a system that was not designed to work with the complex issues of [homelessness]… we need to find a way to work together and find good solutions.”
We believe that partnerships strengthen with other Douglas County agencies such as Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center, Douglas County Jail Re-Entry Program, local churches, the Douglas County District Attorney’s offices, and community law enforcement strengthens our ability as a community to stop the cycle of recidivism in our homeless and mentally ill population.
Thank you Oread Hotel for your hospitality! A BIG thank to you our panelists: Charles Branson, Mike Brouwer, Rev. Peter Luckey, and Sharon Zehr. We appreciate all the attendees coming to join this community event.
