HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program and the Hard Rock Cafe Indianapolis are hosting their annual Thanksgiving Dinner for the Homeless on Thanksgiving morning, November 26, 2015. The dinner will begin at 10:00 a.m. at the Hard Rock Cafe located at 49 S. Meridian Street.

This annual dinner serves approximately 300 people, who might not otherwise have a dinner on Thanksgiving. Volunteers are needed to help clear tables, welcome guests, refill drinks and hand out donated items. Volunteers can arrive between 9:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. If you are interested in volunteering or donating cold weather items, please contact Matt Holland, Employee-Employer Support Specialist, at 317-957-4006 or mholland1@iuhealth.org.

Suggestions for donations include:

• Hats
• Gloves
• Scarves
• Heat packs
• Coats
• Warm socks

Thank you to all who volunteered! Check out the statistics from this year’s event below!

• 267 individuals served
• Over 30 volunteers
• 15 volunteers from the Hard Rock
• $1000 of gloves, hats and socks distributed to the homeless
• Served individuals from Wheeler’s shelters, the streets and from referrals from Horizon House 

Post by Matt Holland

What:  Thanksgiving Meal for the Homeless at the Hard Rock Café

When: Thanksgiving Day from 9:30 am to 1 pm

Where: 49 S. Meridian Street. 

To provide a time of fellowship and outreach to the homeless community, Matt Holland from HealthNet’s Homeless Initiative Program, will be volunteering at the Hard Rock Café on to serve Thanksgiving Dinner to those in need.  This is a free event to show our support and care for those without homes this holiday season.  The volunteers will focus on providing an event of togetherness, caring and support while serving Thanksgiving Dinner to those in shelters and on the street in order to show that the community has them in their heart during this time of the year.

The homeless community will receive a meal served by volunteers, community support and be able to select winter items such as gloves, hats and scarves to help them stay warm.  The doors will open at 9:30am and those eating from the community will be served until everyone has eaten.  This event will provide community support so that those in the homeless community know that they are not alone and also can find support in the community for services that they may need this holiday season.  There is no fee for anyone who would like to eat, just that they are homeless and would like to enjoy a wonderful holiday meal. 

If you would like to volunteer, please email Matt Holland at mholland1@iuhealth.org. Space is limited and spaces for volunteering are filling up quickly.  If anyone knows someone in a situation of homelessness, they can pass on the information and have them come down to eat the day of the event.  During this week, we ask that those in the community please think of the homeless population of our city so that each of us can help someone in need connect to community services that may help them reach a place of self sufficiency.  

For more information on how to help those who are experiencing homelessness in our community, please contact the Homeless Initiative Program at 317-957-2275 or refer to our location at 1835 N. Meridian Street.

With the Holidays slowly creeping up again, it can be a very stressful time of the year.

One of the most basic tips I tell all my patients, is self care.  Self care is very important – make sure you take some time out of your busy daily schedule to refocus and refill yourself back up.

Our society is built around constantly being on the go and we never seem to take a few minutes of a breather for ourselves.

I always share with my patients that you will not be able to take care of your friends/family/loved ones if you are not doing well emotionally and physically.  Sometimes we tend to forget that our emotional, physical, and spiritual selves are connected and if one of those are off kilter, then the other two will also be impacted.

For example, if you are feeling ill, emotionally you are going to be feeling down and lack of motivation to do anything, and your spirits will also be low.  In the same way, if you are anxious and stressed, than that will have an impact on your physically as well – pains throughout your body, headaches, chest palpitations, etc.  So this Holiday season, do yourself a favor and be sure you take some time out for yourself.  Even if that just means 15 minutes to yourself daily to sit and listen to music.

The Holiday season can also be a very scary and tearful time of year, especially if you have experienced loss through out the year.

This is when you may miss your loved one the most, as you reminisce about the past Holidays and the various traditions that person did.

Try not to set your mind up ahead of time, by saying “it just won’t be the same.”  Yes, it won’t be the same, however, please do keep in mind that with grief, things do get better with time.  Just because they are not around to celebrate this year, it does not mean that you won’t be able to engage in the same family traditions as you did when they were around.

Sometimes getting together as a family and engaging in those family traditions together is the best medicine to help everyone get through the tough times.  I had a patient tell me last holiday season, that even though it was tough, they still celebrated the Holidays and everyone had a good time and they were able to reminiscence about past Holidays when their loved one was present.

Not only are the Holidays about family and love, however it is also about the season of giving – whatever that may be.

Even though we think that we have things rough, there are always other people out there that will have things just a little rougher than we do.  For those of us that have our basic necessities met, we tend not to think about what it would like to not have them.  However, a lot of our patients do not have their basic necessities.  Can you imagine being a 10-year-old child and constantly worrying about not having enough food in the house?  Or not sure if you will have milk to eat with your cereal?  Or can you imagine not having a coat with the freezing temperatures?  That is the unfortunate reality of the majority of our patients.

So this Holiday season, take a few minutes of your time to help someone in need out there.

Whether you donate coats, hats, mittens, scarves, etc.; non- perishable food items; or just donating your time at a soup kitchen or a shelter – all of that goes to help a fellow brother or sister in need