Foundation will match

donations to homeless
By Caroline Monday
cmonday@mountaintimes.com

Community members have the opportunity to make their support for Hospitality House go twice as far during the month of April.

The Feinstein Foundation of Rhode Island will make a donation to Hospitality House based on the amount of donations received in March and April.

Asia James of the Hospitality House said the foundation is offering this opportunity in an effort to end hunger and homelessness. The donations collected will go toward the organization’s new facility, to be located in the Bamboo Community, she said.

“It will provide housing and food to people in need, and I think that is something the community of Boone definitely supports,” James said.

The organization serves the area’s homeless community and currently operates with three facilities in downtown Boone. The shelter is consistently full at its current capacity, but will be able to offer twice as many beds when it moves to the new location.

The new facility will house 70 beds, a mix of emergency beds, transitional housing and some permanent-housing beds.

It will also offer a commercial kitchen to support the Bread of Life soup kitchen, which will be much more efficient.

“People deserve a decent place to lay their heads and eat their meals,” James said, and the new facility will help Hospitality House provide that to its clients.

She said the organization serves a wide variety of clients, who come from all different walks of life, though there is often a stigma attached to homelessness.

“There’s definitely not one person who fits the stereotype,” James said. “Everybody’s different, but they all deserve the same amount of respect.”

The organization will also be accepting canned and non-perishable foods. The Feinstein Foundation will offer $1 for every one of these food items collected.

For more information, contact Hospitality House at (828) 264-1237.