Blanket Indy with Care - help support HIP, one of the largest comprehensive service providers for Indiana's homeless population.

This quote ties in well with a story written in a blog post on New York’s Coalition for the Homeless website.  The blog post is written by a woman, Sarah Murphy, who was homeless but helped herself out and found a place to stay at PATH (Prevention Assistance Transitional Housing).  The process when entering PATH is that you stay in a place during an “investigative” period to see if you are able to be housed.  They let you know in a certain period of time whether you are eligible or not.

Consider this – you are homeless.  You are homeless, with a dependent son.  When you are homeless AND have a dependent, the main thing you may need is income. What do you do to gain income? Work!

You can read the entire post above; however, long story short, Ms. Murphy was ruled ineligible and a note was slid under her apartment door while she was at work.  The note said to be at the PATH office no later than 4:35 p.m. to discuss the reason why she was found ineligible.

Ms. Murphy was on the brink of being homeless, with a dependent son, the main thing that she needs is income and must work to do so. Nevertheless, she misses the appointment because she doesn’t get the note until she gets home from work.  Has to take an entire day off work

the next day to be informed that the reason she was ineligible was because they were not able to get a hold of one reference on her application.

For as advanced as we are today, it only takes a slight perfect storm of events for an individual to suddenly not have a place to live. And with our current economy, it’s happening MUCH MORE frequently.

It is easy to find these stories everywhere because people RECOGNIZE bad customer service.  More recognition for GOOD customer service is needed.  Throughout February, we have been posting on our Facebook page, Twitter feed, and website about our Blanket Indy with Care campaign.  Aimed at raising $25,000 for our Homeless Initiative Program (HIP), we want to recognize the GOOD customer service done by HIP staff who are able to help homeless persons find shelter, employment, and support services when needed.  They help the Sarah Murphy’s of Indianapolis, who may need to work during the day to gain income.  Please consider a $5 gift toward our campaign, you can do so by clicking here.  Send this along to your friends and family to help us reach our goal.

Good customer service needs to be recognized just as often as bad customer service.