2020 Hope for the Holidays – Help us Raise $150,000!

Your tax-deductible gift will be matched up to $12,000 by our Board of Directors and a generous Anonymous donor when you donate by midnight, December 31, 2020!

For families like Elizabeth’s, Ritter Center offers a ray of hope for the holidays. For years, she’s received desperately needed support, such as access to food, healthcare, and holiday programs that provide gifts for her children – thanks to the generosity of our dedicated donors.

However, this holiday season is like no other.For those living on the edge of homelessness or now experiencing life without a home, it’s especially dire.

Ritter Center has been on the frontlines since day one of this crisis helping thousands of neighbors in need find shelter, get food, and access medical care.

With ongoing job losses, constant health worries, and food insecurity rising, we are receiving increased requests for assistance this holiday season. COVID has exacerbated poverty in our community.

Many families are wondering if they will eat a holiday dinner or have gifts for their children. That’s where you and Ritter Center come in.

Give Hope for the Holidays and help us raise $150,000.

Your gift will help fund our 2020 seasonal holiday programs and provide vital support for our health and social services for the coming year:

• Thanksgiving Meal Kits for 150 families
• Holiday Dinners “to go” for over 200 people experiencing homelessness
• Family to Family Holiday Gift Cardsfor over 250 families and individuals to buy toys and items for their home
• + vital funding to help cover health care and mental health program costs

DONATE AND GIVE HOPE FOR THE HOLIDAYS

In past years, people usually shopped for items from our Family to Family wish lists or bought food for our meal programs which they would then drop off at Ritter Center. We also placed toy bins at small businesses. This year is different. In order to keep you, our staff, and our clients safe and prevent the spread of COVID, we will not be collecting or distributing toys, gifts, or food items from individuals for our holiday programs this year(exceptions made for donations prearranged from groups/corporations/suppliers – see below)*.

Instead, we are asking our community of supporters to donate online, so we can purchase and distribute food, personal care items, and gift cards to families and individuals in need. This alternative ensures we can still meet the needs of the most vulnerable members in our community.

Thanks to our supporters, in 2020 we:

• Helped 68 individuals that were homeless move into their own apartments and provided them intensive supportive services to address their health issues.
• Provided over $400,000 in emergency rental assistance to help families impacted by the COVID-19 economic crisis pay their rent and stay housed.
• Gave over 100 low-income families gift cards to ensure their school-age children had the supplies they needed to go back to school in 2020.
• Have helped up to 30% more clients at Ritter Center’s Food Pantry each day it is open. In 2019 we provided 18,615 encounters and served 1,740 households, distributing 17,732 bags of groceries with an estimated retail value of $354,640.
• Continue to be on the front lines during COVID-19, providing vital health and social services to an increasing number of people. We expect to eclipse last year’s totals: In 2019 Ritter Center had 30,216 visits and served 3,555 individuals with health and social services designed to meet clients’ needs to increase independence and self-sufficiency.

Your donation provides Thanksgiving meal kits, gift cards for toys, and medical and mental health services. People experiencing homelessness will eat a hot holiday meal at our Holiday Dinner “To Go” on December 16 and receive care packages.

Thank you to the following partners for their Hope for the Holidays support:

*We are accepting and arranging bulk donations from groups on a case by case basis and are seeking corporate support to help fund our programs. Please contact Jessica Hansen at [email protected] for more details.