Hundreds get help at service fair for the homeless

Joey Monroe calls himself a survivor.

The U.S. Marine Corps veteran has survived since August without a permanent roof over his head, and he understands the consequences of living on the streets.

"Anything could have happened to me in the street," he said. "I could have ended up dead in the street."

When Monroe arrived at the Greater Richmond Convention Center yesterday morning for the third Project Homeless Connect, he was paired with volunteer Bob Beatty. And before taking advantage of any other service being offered, Beatty led Monroe to the one that could get him off the streets the quickest.

That first stop landed Monroe temporary shelter at a local church through CARITAS, which works with more than 170 faith communities to provide emergency shelter for homeless adults.

Now that he has housing, Mon roe said he'll set his sights on finding employment to get back on his feet. "It is what's going to separate me from the streets," he said.

Yesterday, nearly 800 volunteers and more than 40 service providers were at the convention center to match the area's homeless with services they need. More than 740 homeless people received services ranging from housing to medical care to employment, all under one roof, which eased transportation pressures some may face when they try to obtain help.

"Having an event like this greatly increases the homeless access to care because so many of the homeless service providers are right here in one location," said Dianne Reynolds-Cane of The Daily Planet, a Richmond-based organization that provides health and human-welfare services to the area's homeless.

"Folks whose greatest barrier to care is transportation, because their feet happen to be the primary mode of transportation, can receive so many services under one roof."

About 160 of yesterday's volunteers were students and staff from Virginia Union University. Beverly Aurand, an associate professor of social work at VUU, strongly encouraged her students to volunteer.

"Part of what social workers do is work with people who are in difficult circumstances," Aurand said. "So, I figured this was a good opportunity for them to get hands-on experience working with people."

Ron "G" Brown, who has been homeless for 4½ years, said the decision to attend was an easy one to make.

"The whole program is worthy of coming for. They're a lot of people out here that need this and should be here for it," Brown said.

During Homeward's July point-in-time homeless count, the group counted 1,061 homeless in the Richmond region, including 155 children. Homeward is a planning and coordinating agency for homeless services in the area.

This is the third year the organization hosted the service fair. Ultimately, the goal is to curb homelessness in the region.

This could be the turning point they need to get off the streets, said Kelly King Horne, executive director of Homeward.

Contact Jeremy Slayton at (804) 649-6861 or .