Running head: HARBOR OF LOVE (FOR WOMEN)

Harbor of Love (For Women)
Shelby Underhill
University of Phoenix

Abstract
Harbor of Love (for Women), (HLW) is not only a shelter for homeless women, but a place where women can learn the basic skills to help them survive in everyday life. Harbor of Love will provide shelter, food, and job training for those women that are homeless and cannot manage to make it off the streets. When most people think of a woman’s shelter, they think that the woman must have some kind of issue; such as drug problem, have been abused or even pregnant and that is why they need help. Harbor of Love is for the average woman that finds themselves homeless and has no way of getting off of the street. Harbor of Love will take any woman but we prefer to help those that cannot receive help from the other shelters.
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Harbor of Love (For Women)
Harbor of Love for Women (HLW) is not only a shelter for homeless women, but a place where women can learn the basic skills to help them survive in everyday life. Harbor of Love for Women will provide shelter, food, and job training for those women that are homeless and cannot manage to make it off the streets. When most people think of a woman’s shelter, they think that the woman must have some kind of issue; such as drug problem, have been abused or even pregnant and that is why they need help. Harbor of Love for Women is for the average woman that finds themselves, homeless and has no way of getting off of the street. Harbor of Love for Women will take any woman but we prefer to help those that cannot receive help from the other shelters. Mission
The mission statement of Harbor of Love is that every woman is a human being; therefore they deserve to have food and shelter no matter what circumstances have led them to become homeless. Just because a woman is homeless does not mean she is addicted to drugs, or even asked to become homeless, we are here to help those women. We want to see the women that we help go into the community and help others that need help. We want to show the community just because a woman is homeless she does not deserve to be treated differently. We have an open heart, and want to show the community how they can open their heart and help those that want to get “off the streets” and on their feet a helping hand. Harbor of Love is going to be a great way for the community to open their hearts, keep more jobs available, and keep the crime rate down.
Harbor of Love is a nonprofit organization, since we are helping a rising epidemic in our community we have gained grants to open our doors, but we will need the help of the community to keep the doors open for many years to come. Our first event once the doors of Harbor of Love is open is a fundraiser that will be followed by a ball for all the people in the community that has made donations to our shelter, whether the donations be monetary or items needed within the shelter. Throughout the year we will also be doing a bake sale, carwash, and silent auction. All the proceeds will go towards being able to help more women within the community that find themselves homeless. We hope to expand our shelter into surrounding communities in the coming years, and that can only be accomplished with the help of our community. Harbor of Love will house a total of 25 residents that will live there on a daily basis and there will be emergency housing for up to 15 extra women at any given time. Harbor of Love will never shut their doors to any woman in need. That may sound sexist, but there is a reason for that, we are here to serve the women. There are shelters in this community that just serve men, it is about time that there was a shelter just for women and Harbor of Love is that shelter. Along with keeping our doors open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Harbor of Love will provide the basic needs for these women.
Once a woman has come to Harbor of Love for help there are a few items that will be needed to become a resident of Harbor of Love, the woman will have to give her name, age, and how she became homeless. Once all of the information is obtained the woman will be given a tour of the facilities, showing the woman where she would sleep, eat, and either study while going to school, or the classes where extra training is available. Once the tour is done the woman goes back to the office with the staff member to sign some paper work if they decide to become a resident of Harbor of Love. This paperwork consist of a background check, making sure there are no warrants out for their arrest, also getting their social security number to help them file for benefits they may be eligible for while they are at Harbor of Love such as; Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Work First benefits. While at Harbor of Love the women must sign a form saying they will remain drug and alcohol free. Smoking cigarettes is permitted in designated areas that are labeled. If the woman is found to be taking drugs or drinking while at Harbor of Love they will be asked to leave the shelter and will not be able to reenter Harbor of Love for a year. If the woman decides after the tour Harbor of Love is not where they want to be, we will offer to pay for them to get “home”, to the closest relative that can help them.
Once a woman becomes a resident of Harbor of Love she is assigned a number for identification of where she will sleep, what days she helps with meals, and what days she can do laundry. She will also get a schedule for when it is time to get up, eat, and go to bed, while this schedule is only allowed to be altered due to a work schedule there is time within the day for personal activities.
Harbor of love will provide every woman with her own bed, locker and toiletries. This means she will be provided sheets, a pillow, and a blanket. For the locker she will be provided a locker to store her personal belongings in along with a lock. The toiletries include soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, razors, and deodorant. While most of these things are considered a necessity, when you have been homeless these can become a luxury. While the woman will have her own bed she will be sharing a room with three other women, therefore we can help more women at a time. Since the women share a room with up to three more women trust becomes a big issue, without trust Harbor of Love will not be able to help the women that want help the most. (Walsh 2009) While at Harbor of Love the women are expected to keep their stuff clean and tidy, make their beds every morning, and keep them self’s clean as well. There will be other chores required once a woman enters the Harbor of Love shelter such as; dusting, sweeping, and mopping the floors. Women will also be in charge of keeping their clothes clean; Harbor of Love will provide washers and dryers’ onsite for laundry.
Harbor of Love will also provide food for all of the women that are residents of the shelter. While meals will be provided the women of the shelter will help with the cooking, serving, and clean up from all three meals. This means there will be a rotation on which women will help prepare the meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week. This rotation will also be used for the women that will serve and clean up for the week as well for each meal, this rotation also works for the emergency residents. Since there are at least 25 women in Harbor of Love at any given time, help is available.
While values are important in every situation, the values of Harbor of Love are just as important. We at Harbor of Love want to provide not only values to the residents, but skills to help them throughout their journey. Since Harbor of Love’s goal is to take women that are homeless and put them back on “their feet” everything that they learn while being residents are considered values along with skills. The values of Harbor of Love will help these women from becoming homeless again in the future.
Harbor of Love will also train the residents while they are at the shelter in basic job skills such as typing, computer skills, answering multi-line phones, customer service skills, balancing a checkbook, and housekeeping skills. While other job skills will be offered on a rotating schedule, when available such as; carpentry, lab technicians, and accounting. (Goetz 1996) These extra courses will be available to any woman that is in the shelter on a first come first serve basis and will only be available when people within the community offer to help teach these skills so the women can succeed within the community. Women that are residents of Harbor of Love have the option to either go to school while working towards becoming independent or they can work within the community. If the women chose to go to school they still have to attend the training classes, onsite once their classes are done for the day. If the woman decides to work while at Harbor of Love she can gain experience with the training classes offered while in the shelter. All of this takes hard work for the women that are residents at Harbor of Love for them to become successful, the more the women work towards their goals, the more likely they will never end up on the street again. (Shaheen 2007) While Harbor of Love does not expect the women to pay for being at the shelter with actual money, but they would prefer the women donate their time to help other women that may be in the same situation.
While Harbor of Love is there to help the women that are living on the streets get off of the street and stay off the streets. We want not only to provide them with a shelter to avoid the elements, but the training and guidance to keep them from returning to the streets. We are only going to help the average women of the community because we feel as the rest of the community that is homeless have a chance to get help elsewhere. Our goal is to not only keep the women from going back to the streets once they have stayed at Harbor of Love, but to be able to help others that are in the same situation. We want the community to help these women be able to not only help themselves but others to. We want the women that come through the doors of Harbor of Love to volunteer their time helping those that need help, just like we have helped them. Even though it is not a requirement, most women will help others it is in their nature to be caring and helpful. Harbor of Love is going to be an asset to the community and we hope that other communities will follow our footsteps and create shelters like ours to help women that need help. With the help of the community Harbor of Love can become a great success and we can stand behind the members of the community and what helps make them stronger.

References Gary Shaheen & John Rio. (2007). Recognizing Work as a Priority in Preventing or Ending Homelessness. Journal of Primary Prevention, 28(3-4), 341-58. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from ProQuest Health and Medical Complete. (Document ID: 1308559451).
Goetz, Kathryn W, & Schmiege, Cynthia J. (1996). From marginalized to mainstream: The HEART Project empowers the homeless. Family Relations, 45(4), 375. Retrieved March 5, 2010 from Research Library. (Document ID: 10372903).
Walsh, C., Rutherford, G., & Kuzmak, N.. (2009). Characteristics of Home: Perspectives of Women Who Are Homeless. The Qualitative Report, 14(2), 299-317. Retrieved March 5, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1912951301).