Well, Would You Look At That! It’s March 2022! With hints of spring around the corner, I think we’re all looking forward to what the new season will bring. Here at the Homeless Coalition, we’re cleaning and renovating homes that will provide our incoming families with a stable foundation. For a period, this will be a home where they can build up their resiliency to overcome hardships and move forward in their lives. Spring is a time when many of us start cleaning around our homes.  It’s also a time when many generous people will donate items they no longer need to non-profits like us.   Power of Giving: In-Kind Donation   In the non-profit world, these items are considered In-Kind Donations, which can be furniture, clothing, food, etc. While we’re always appreciative of the generosity, not all donations are usable—and in some cases, can be disadvantageous toward our day-to-day activities.  Usable Donations Useful donations that align with our mission to help homeless families can be categorized with the following: Agency Empowerment: Items that can help us achieve our goals such as building supplies and office supplies. Also, volunteer time can be an invaluable donation. Economic Mobility Enhancers: These items can help our homeless families and their children better achieve their monthly budget and include  Gift cards Cleaning products Household items Paper and hygiene products  Life-Changing Donations: These can include appropriate furnishings for the homes or transportation items such as bikes.  BTW: Our residents can take their furnishings with them when they move on to more permanent housing—giving them an extremely helpful start to their new life. Non-Useful Donations Always consider carefully who would benefit from your donation and donate appropriately. While some items might benefit one non-profit, they might not be useful for another. Organizing donations can take up valuable staff time. Considering that the Homeless Coalition operates on a slim staff of four, time spent on non-useful donations can take away precious daily manpower. When thinking of donating items, please consider the following: Is it trash? Many times, we receive dirty, ripped clothes, broken tools and furniture, etc. If you think it’s trash—please take it to the curb. Is it useful for the non-profit? While we appreciate furnishings, items like king-sized beds and recliners will not fit in any of our homes. Plus, glass top furnishings and other glass items can create hazards for families with young children. Do we need it? There are times when we have an abundance of certain items taking up our limited storage space.  Please check with us first before donating items by calling (904) 819-0059. Also, follow our Facebook page, where we often post urgently needed items. Just this week, we posted a need for three gently used stoves and one refrigerator.   Our Facebook Page   You can also find more information on our Wishlist page:   Our Wish List   How an Oyster Roast Fundraiser to Welcome in Spring? Please Join Us at the 2nd Annual Roastin’ on the River Fundraiser on Saturday, March 19, from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Genung’s Fish Camp.  This will be an exciting event with live music, oysters, and a food truck for those not particularly fond of oysters.  Plus it will be a great spot to watch the sunset. We appreciate Adam Morley for providing the venue and help with this event.  Please use the link below for more information on the Oyster Roast Fundraiser and to purchase tickets.   Oyster Roast Info   We hope you can all make it to the Oyster Roast Fundraiser. It will be great to see you and celebrate the eve of Spring together.

St. Johns County COVID-19 Testing Site to Close on Weekends

The St. Johns County COVID-19 testing site located at the Wind Mitigation Building is now closed on Saturdays and Sundays due to a decrease in testing demand. The testing site remains open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, please call the Nomi Health call center at 904-295-0562.

You are cordially invited to an evening dinner party and Friends Annual Meeting hosted at Washington Oaks Gardens State Park Event Field.     Annual Dinner & Meeting   March 31, 2022   Starting at 4:30 PM   At Washington Oaks Gardens State Park     Due to schedule conflicts, the dinner and meeting have been moved to March 31, 2022.     The price per person is $20-All Inclusive. Beverages, including wine and beer will be provided.   The deadline to register for this dinner and meeting is 3/24/2022.   Please visit Eventbrite to reserve your seat!   Eventbrite       Itinerary:   4:30 – 5:00 PM Reopening of the Greenhouse & Plant Bench Tour   5:00 – 5:30 PM Friends of Washington Oaks Meeting   5:30 Dinner!       Check payments may also be mailed to the Park at: 6400 N. Oceanshore Blvd. Palm Coast, FL 3213       Call 386-446-6783 with Questions.   Eventbrite Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/friends-of-washington-oaks-annual-meeting-dinner-2022-tickets-266353108317

www.washingtonoaks.org

Magic, Mirth, and Mortality: Musings on Black Motherhood February 15, 2022, St. Augustine, Fla. – The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center (LMCC), St. Augustine Historical Society (SAHS), and Crisp-Ellert Art Museum (CEAM), are pleased to present a multi-institutional exhibition and panel series “Magic, Mirth, and Mortality: Musings on Black Motherhood” in April 2022. Both the exhibition and panel series are inspired by the lived experiences of writer, curator, wife and mother Shawana Brooks, and celebrates the resilience of Black mothers through the lens of visual and literary art, and historical and archival objects. Centered on Brooks’ during her pregnancy and the premature birth of her son Roosevelt, her “musings” will be shown alongside artwork by Cheryl McCain, Marsha Hatcher, and Tatiana Kitchen. The visual and literary component will be supplemented with local and national statistics on infant and maternal mortality rates that demonstrates current inequities to healthcare access, and draws attention to the institutional bias that Black women continue to face. Originally organized by Hope McMath at Yellow House in Jacksonville, “Magic, Mirth, and Mortality” was shut down due to the pandemic, and had only a limited public viewing in the Summer of 2020. With the original exhibition as a starting point, this iteration will be expanded to include material that reflects St. Augustine and St. Johns County’s unique history. Using their archival collections, each venue historically contextualizes some of the contemporary inequities Black women experience. The exhibitions for “Magic, Mirth, and Mortality: Musing on Black Motherhood” will be in two separate locations: The Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center (LMCC) – 102 M L King Avenue, St. Augustine, FL Oldest House Museum Complex and Gardens (SAHS) – 14 St. Francis Street, St. Augustine, FL Both locations will open the exhibits on Friday, April 1st from 5 PM to 9 PM in conjunction with First Friday Art Walk. Old Town Trolley has generously provided transportation for the opening night events, and will operate a trolley between the two venues for the duration of Art Walk. Related panels will take place at Flagler College throughout April: Tuesday, April 12th – Dr. Martha Bireda, Scholar and Director of Blanchard House Museum of African History and Culture, will join Writer and Curator Shawana Brooks, and Dr. Lori Lee, Associate Professor of Archeology and Anthropology in a discussion that will focus on Black maternal health through a historical lens. Saturday, April 23rd – Artists Shawana Brooks, Cheryl McCain, Marsha Hatcher, and Tatiana Kitchen will lead a panel discussion to discuss their work in relation to the exhibition, historical representations of Motherhood in art, and issues around the representation of BIPOC women artists within the fields of visual and literary art. The exhibition will be made available virtually and our public programs will be live-streamed, and the recordings will also be made available online. Public programming at Flagler College will be located in an accessible building. Sign Language Interpreters will be available for all panel discussions. Lincolnville Museum and Cultural Center is an accessible building. An interactive virtual exhibition will be available at the St. Augustine Historical Society venue for those with accessibility needs. Funding for this program was partially provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities. “Magic, Mirth, and Mortality: Musings on Black Motherhood” is supported in part from grants from The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida and the St. Johns Cultural Council. Old Town Trolley has generously provided transportation for the opening night events. For more information about this exhibition and related programs, please contact Julie Dickover at 904-826-8530 or jdickover@flagler.edu or Jeanette Vigliotti at jeanette@sahs1883.com.