MCCN’s Marketing Consultant, Simone Baptiste, had the opportunity to speak with Kevin Lindawood, Vice President for External Affairs for Health Care for the Homeless Inc. to find out more about the cause behind the sweet.
MCCN: The Chocolate Affair is an event full of great food and dessert all for a good cause. Proceeds from the event go to benefitb Health Care for the Homeless, tell us a little bit about HCH.
Lindawood: A large majority of the funds, almost all of the resources that are generated from this very low cost event support the work for the Health Care for the Homeless. We go out on the streets to get people off the streets and back into the mainstream. We deliver comprehensive medical care, dental health services, social services, and addiction treatment.
We just moved and will open Monday (Feb. 1) at a new facility that is about triple the size of our old facility. In that building we will incorporate an onsite pharmacy, the first dental program in Maryland exclusively for homeless children and adults, and a pediatrics clinic for homeless children. ; It is truly a wonderful facility and the proceeds generated from the Chocolate Affair directly make our work possible.
MCCN: How has the economy affected the number of people seeking HCH for assistance?
Lindawood: The number of people experiencing homelessness we believe is on the rise. The beginning of 2009, the city (Baltimore) did a count of people in the downtown area either in shelters or on the streets, and they counted about 3400 people on a given night in January, that was a 12% increase over the same count two years ago. It was an insufficient count, it didn’t include people that were living in any number of Baltimore’s abandoned houses, it didn’t include people that were doubled up with friends and relatives living transiently from place to place not having a place of their own. We believe that at least 30 to 35, 000 different people will experience homelessness in the Baltimore area and in (surrounding) areas. <>
The Chocolate Affair began as the brainchild of local community leaders concerned with poverty, hunger, and homelessness in Baltimore. Founding members included the former President and CEO of Health Care for the Homeless, Jackie Gaines, and two current members of The Chocolate Affair Event Planning Committee, Debra Attman and Pam Malester.
For more information about Health Care for the Homeless visit www.hchmd.org.
To see more pictures from The Chocolate Affair, go to the MCCN Facebook Fan Page and look at our album.
