Asheville Homeless Network

Current AHN Projects

Jail and Hospital Visits
Advocacy, including help with SSI/SSDI Applications
AHN Meetings, every Thursday at 2 pm
May include "support group meeting" as requested

Needles for the Needy

AHN members knit and crochet caps and scarves and donate blankets and other clothing as it comes to us. In 2005-06 AHN has donated 6 caps, 3 scarves, 1 heavy coat, 2 blankets, and a winter business dress to A-HOPE and other needy individuals (Last updated: December 14, 2005). We also have taken in a large donation of fabric (from bits and pieces to large things, some ready for quilting) and yarn, and are willing to share this with our members for making items for personal use or sale, or to anyone who would like to use it and donate the finished product to AHN.

Adopt A Homeless Person

In this program, a church or civic group "adopts" a homeless person and provides the following for two months, either themselves or through an agency:

Emotional Support - "Cheerleading"
Help with "Interview" Clothes
Rides to and from job interviews and medical appointments
Monthly Bus pass
A phone number for potential employers to call
Help with housing
Training in Budgeting, Housekeeping, Conflict Resolution, Cooking, etc.
A place to do laundry
A place to take a shower or bath

All homeless persons in this program will be pre-screened by Asheville Homeless Network and may be required to meet certain guidelines set by the adopting church or group.

If you would like to be a participant in this program, please fill out an Application Form; if your church or civic group would like to partner with a homeless person, please fill out a Sponsor Form. You can also contact us at Asheville Homeless Network, and forms are available at 2-1-1 Call for Help, the Asheville Helpline.

Still In The Works
We need your help to implement these items:

Tent City

Seattle has one; Indianapolis has one. Both are set up on unused City property. We will be approaching the City of Asheville and Buncombe County Commissioners about this project. We also have, in the past year, had property owners willing to let us set up tents on their property in exchange for helping them clear it, build structures and/or landscape the property. Information has already been presented to Robin Cape and Brian Freeborn, new City Council members; we hope to move on this during the Summer of 2006.

Tickets for Tenters

The police in Asheville and the sheriff's office in Buncombe County have been pretty rude to us. In the past, they could destroy our campsites; we have pointed out to them that this is felony destruction of property, and to the best of our current knowledge, they have stopped doing this. (Let us know if you are aware of incidents of this kind.)

What we propose is to print up stick-on labels, about 1/4 page in size, that the police would put on our tents/property, stating that we are camped illegally and have 24 or 48 hours to vacate the premises. Have them treat us like the real citizens we are, not just throwaway people.

We have met with the new Police Commissioner, and are assured that he is changing the attitudes of the entire department. We look forward to working with the Asheville Police in the future -- attitudes on both sides of this issue need changing.

Homeless Handcart
The City no longer sells street vendor licenses -- except for the Handcart Vendor License. This license is for vendors such as hot dog salesmen, but is not limited to food sales. After discussion with Charlotte Kaplan of the City's Community Development office, AHN learned that the fee for this license will be dropping on January 31, 2006, from $125 per year to $75 per year. Asheville Homeless Network has budgeted to purchase one of these licenses, and will rent, buy, or build a proper handcart. We will then be selling the handcrafts of our individual members from this cart, keeping only enough from the sale to keep the license, handcart repairs as needed, and supplies as needed; the rest of the proceeds will go to the artisan.

Job Bank

Does Labor Ready or Labor Finders take too much of what you've earned? We'd like to start our own Job Bank, with AHN keeping a much smaller percentage of your earnings. This one will take a lot of work, so we need a lot of workers; please contact AHN to help.

Camping Equipment

Got an extra tent or sleeping bag? Donate it to AHN! We'll find someone who needs it.

All these take time and resources. Join Asheville Homeless Network now and give us all a hand up!