We really are aiming to get ex-offenders started off in a middle-class type home, not in a homeless shelter. Again, as mentioned before, physical donations of things like: washer, dryer, stove, dishwasher, microwave, fridge, nick-knacks, items you would put in a garage sale, home decor, tv’s, dishes, pots /pans, an old vehicle, bikes or exercise equipment, back yard patio set that is still in usable shape. A lot of us have been successful or lucky and have some nice homes and some of these folks have never experienced living in a nice place. Wouldn’t it be great if we had seating on the back porch for our weekly intervention meetings.
A mentoring donation could be: helping them to make a family garden. This helps them learn to be more self-sustaining, plus teaches them that not all foods need to come from a grocery store or be processed. Plus it can be a healthy hobby. We welcome anyone interested in gardening to consider helping with this project.
If you are unable to donate labor, physical items, spiritual guidance, mentoring, or other than we also accept financial donations. This could be ten or twenty dollars, this could be five hundred dollars or thousands of dollars. This money is going to help these folks get on their feet, get employed, and get reintroduced into society. Another financial gift would be to help pay fines that need to be paid before they can get their driver’s license. A lot of times these people have received fines while they have been incarcerated for car tags expiring, tickets, insurance expiring, court fees, etc. While these fines may be trivial to someone that has a job- they can be almost disabling to someone coming out of jail with no job. They have to pay fines to get their license reinstated. They often need their license to start a job-so as you can see it can become a vicious cycle from the get-go. These fines are worked off and paid back so others can benefit.
It might be that you have an old vehicle which you no longer use or need, old office equipment or cell phones or something else of value that you wish to donate in exchange for one of the other rental homes “use” during this week.
We feel that it is hard to put these people out on the road without reliable, legal transportation. Our goal is to get these people working in jobs that provide a living wage, with proper driver’s license / insurance and a reliable car. Once they have meaningful employment we can look at helping them transfer out into the community to look for an apartment in a decent neighborhood. The goal will be to reach this point within six months. We believe that by starting them off in a nice home like “The Pate House” ,with other like minded productive people, they will leave wanting to find a similar type home. When ex-offenders leave “The Pate House they should be looking for a lifetime housing situation. We don’t want them to leave and step into the projects or a bad mobile home park. We would like to expose them to a good, safe quality lifestyle and hopefully teach them critical thinking skills to help them maintain this higher economic lifestyle.