Q&A: Pandemic Can't Stop Tri-Valley Nonprofit Serving Homeless

LIVERMORE, CA —Patch is trying to support local businesses by giving them a platform to share their successes and tribulations during the coronavirus pandemic. The following comes from Kristina Bethea, executive director of Livermore-based nonprofit Monthly Miracles:

What do you do and how long have you been in business?

Monthly Miracles is a 501(c)3 public nonprofit organization. We're saving our Tri-Valley neighbors from homelessness every month by mobilizing the local community through $1/month donations.

We were serving the homeless for 5 years under the name Restoring Hearts Ministries in Oakland and Tenderloin, but in the last 2 years we've changed our name and mission to Monthly Miracles, and our mission field is the Tri-Valley.

We focus on long-term solutions by providing those that are ready to receive help with life-changing miracles. This includes housing assistance, relocation, transportation aid or homelessness prevention.

As soon as shelter-in-place order was issued and almost all services paused their operations, we were able to immediately step in with pop-up outreaches across the Tri-Valley. Since March 16th we've been providing hot food, cold food and snacks to-go, coffee, laundry services, hygiene items, clothing and case management for long term solutions. We were visiting different encampments and making sure our unsheltered neighbors had their immediate needs met when the whole world shut down.

Now we continue our outreach in Livermore on a weekly basis at 460 N Livermore Ave in a parking lot - every Friday from 11AM till 12:30PM we serve food, coffee, hygiene and clothing. Our services are open to anyone - most of our clients are homeless and housed families that are struggling due to Covid.

What challenges have you encountered during the pandemic?

Since everything was closed, we had to do pop-up outreaches, which meant packing up several volunteer's cars with tables, canopies, food, hygiene and everything else we offered. Storage and transportation were a big challenge, but we've figured out a system that works for now. Another challenge was communicating the changing locations to our clients - meeting people where they were and making sure they know when and where we'll be able to provide the services they need. In the past couple weeks our location became more permanent (the aforementioned 460 N Livermore Ave).

We've had many challenges with making sure we have enough supplies every single week - we're not government funded. We are 100% volunteer ran and 100% funded by the local community.

It's CRUCIAL for us to be able to communicate our activities and needs to the public and we've been overwhelmed by the positive response of our supportive local community whose donations ensured we had enough to supply everyone's needs every week! We've had several businesses offer their services to support us: First Street Alehouse, Aviation Rooftop Bar and Kitchen, Inklings Coffee and Tea, etc.

How have you adapted and continued to serve people during this time?

As mentioned before, we're a small volunteer ran organization - this makes us very flexible and we were able to pivot the same week Shelter-in-place order was issued. We've expanded our mission beyond the long-term solutions. Now we meet immediate needs of our local homeless as well through our weekly outreach!

What aspect of your work are you most looking forward to returning to when restrictions are lifted?

Having more 1-on-1 case management! Even through shelter-in-place we've had a few opportunities to facilitate housing and relocation to our clients who are now no longer homeless. However, these restrictions do limit us in our approach to work on their next steps - helping them with different aspects of life - i.e. transportation, meeting them in coffee shops to work on their progress... When restrictions get lifted, our work will be much more streamlined and we'll be able to move cases along at a much faster pace.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell readers or customers?

We would want to invite you to join our life-changing mission with just $1/month! Our supporters include children, retirees, and even some homeless - our program has a proven record in saving our neighbors from homelessness, and your $1 makes a huge difference!
Follow us on social media and you will see who exactly you have helped and how: fb.com/monthlymiraclescharity

How can people get in touch with you and where are you located?

www.monthlymiracles.org

fb.com/monthlymiraclescharity
kristina@monthlymiracles.org
925-290-8847

Our outreach is at 460 N Livermore Ave every Friday - we serve from 11am till 12:30pm, our mailing address is 5211 Demarcus Blvd #527, Dublin CA 94568