Greetings!
Welcome
to the
premiere issue of our Food, Clothing and Shelter e-newsletter, designed
especially for
people like you who have demonstrated a commitment to improving Greater
Nashua residents' access to basic needs. In each issue, we'll bring you updates
about United Way-supported programs
and the people they help. We'll also provide links to articles and resources
related to Food, Clothing, and Shelter issues. And if you have an idea about how
we could enhance this e-newsletter, please let us know.
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Workforce Housing Units On The Market
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United Way's focus on workforce housing and its involvement with the Greater Nashua Workforce Housing Coalition (GNWHC) is starting to yield tangible results.
United Way of Greater Nashua is working with the GNWHC, New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority
(NHHFA), and developer Bennett-Prescott, LLC, to bring new units of
workforce housing to two sites in Nashua. Prescott Square is a 41-unit
condominium development off Broad Street, and Dalton Village is a seven
single-family home development on Donna Street. UWGN provided a $50,000
grant, which leveraged an additional $350,000 in subsidies from NHHFA
and the developer.
As a result, 12 two-bedroom
condominium units at Prescott Square and three single-family homes at
Dalton Village are available to qualified first-time home buyers who
can receive up to a $20,000 discount. The GNWHC is marketing the
properties to area employees with an income of up to $84,100.
Qualified buyers of a two-bedroom unit with a market rate of $238,900
would pay $218,900. To help ensure long-term affordability, the $20,000
discount would remain intact each time the property is sold over 20
years.
For more information, call the sales representatives at Prescott Square, (603) 578-4881, or Dalton Village at (603) 724-2655.
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| Success Story: Sean of Harbor Homes |
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Harbor Homes offers temporary housing with employment support and educational opportunities to homeless persons and families. Its Connections program, which receives support from United Way's General Fund, greatly helped Sean get back on his feet.
Originally from New York,
Sean moved to the Nashua area to
start a new life and a new way of living. At first, Sean's life seemed pretty stable: steady work, a
place to live, and a fiancé. Then things took a turn for the worse. Sean's fiancé
was diagnosed with terminal cancer and passed on. He then was seriously injured
at work and required hip surgery. Very bitter about the loss of a loved one,
Sean started abusing his pain medications and got into trouble with the law. He had to serve a year in jail and when released, went
to Teen Challenge, a drug and alcohol recovery program.
From there Sean went to Harbor Homes and enrolled in their
employment program. Connections helped him with his recovery, gave him the guidance
he needed to make a positive change in his life and helped him address many of
his problems, along with giving him a safe place to live.
A helping hand from Harbor Homes - combined with his own initiative - enabled Sean to turn his life around. Sean wanted to give back to the community that helped him and now is the program coordinator for
Connections.
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| Results You Can See...
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 United
Way's General Fund supports numerous programs that provide food, clothing and shelter to income-eligible residents. These programs get real results. For
example:
92% of the residents in the Transitional Housing Program of Nashua
Pastoral Care Center demonstrated financial responsibility by paying rent on
time for over six months.
With the assistance of Home Health & Hospice Care's Homemaking/ Companion Program, 97% of clients were able to live in their homes for
at least one year.
In the past year,
100% of families with a disabled family member assisted by the Homeless
Prevention Program of Area Agency of Greater Nashua avoided eviction and utility
shutoffs by keeping rent and utility payments current.
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| Your Opinion Matters
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We'd like to hear from you! If you haven't done so already, please take our brief survey. Your responses will help United Way better serve you and the community. Thank you.
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We hope you have found this e-newsletter to be helpful and informative.
We greatly appreciate your support of local programs that assist area residents with basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. Thank you for being United Way's
partner for improving lives and strengthening our community.
Sincerely,
United Way of Greater Nashua
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Senior Hunger Study
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A study
released recently by the Meals on Wheels Association of America Foundation finds
that more than 5 million seniors in the U.S. - 11.4 percent of all seniors -
are facing the threat of hunger. The study examined seniors' exposure to the
various stages of "food insecurity," which the federal government defines as
"limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or
limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable
ways." Among the
study's other key findings:
1. Although the poor are more
likely to be at risk of hunger, half of all at-risk seniors have incomes
above the federal poverty line.
2. Individuals ages 60-64 are more
likely to be hungry than older seniors.
3. Seniors living with a
grandchild are 50 percent more likely to be at risk of hunger than those
who don't.
4. Seniors at risk of hunger are
more likely to be in poor or fair health. In addition, they are more
likely to have lower intakes of major nutrients.
5. By 2025, 75 percent more
seniors are expected to experience some form of food insecurity.
In Greater
Nashua, St. Joseph Community Services' Meals on Wheels program provides hot and
nutritious meals to homebound elderly and to other seniors at congregate dining
facilities. Support from UWGN's General Fund last year enabled the Meals on
Wheels program to provide about 67,900 meals to some 560 individuals. More than half of program participants under
study were able to live independently at home for at least one year, thereby
avoiding more costly institutionalization.
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