Blog

Dignity Village, the 200+ person homeless camp operated by the City of Gainesville, will close at the end of the year, and be replaced with a temporary campground focused entirely on moving campers into affordable housing.

Now in its 18th year, THE FEST is an independent multi-day underground music festival held in Gainesville. This year, FEST is donating $1 from every FEST pass directly to GRACE! You can also find this very punk Black Flag inspired "End Homelessness" for sale in their Merch Store (and yes, all proceeds benefit our work ending homelessness)! 

But that's not all! The ink masters at Anthem Tattoo have reached out to FEST bands to gather autographed LPs, special merch, and other special prizes to giveaway via an online raffle. To learn more and enter to win visit: grace.rallyup.com/fest18 

GRACE has resumed normal operating procedures. Our emergency storm shelter is now closed. Click here for more details. 

GRACE is thrilled to present our five-year report, "Ending Homelessness is Possible," released in June 2019. The report describes our programs, services, community impact, financials, and - best of all - the exciting work ahead! 

In March, we kicked off The 300 Challenge during The Amazing Give. Through the Amazing Give campaign, we raised $23,371 toward our fundraising goal of $90,000. To continue the challenge, we've created a new home for it on our main fundraising site. The donations we've collected so far have been transferred to our new platform. 

Some call it “the clothing closet.” Some call it the “GRACE Boutique.” But to everyone who visits, shops, or volunteers there, it’s about so much more than the clothes.

Over the past few years, we’ve been lucky enough to have some of the most amazing volunteers pour their hearts into creating what has become one of the crown jewels of our volunteer programs - the GRACE Boutique. Set up to resemble a small retail shop, our guests come through and “shop” for what they need, from winter coats to work boots to summer dresses. Everything is clean, sorted by season and style, and presented in a way that emphasizes our core value of respect. And none of it would be possible without our Jean, Jan, Nancy, and Lori.

On Monday, March 25, we’re celebrating the half millionth meal served in Cafè 131. “Considering that many of these meals were served before we had a kitchen, it’s an incredible milestone,” said Travis Middleton, Director of Community Engagement. “We couldn’t have done it without Chef Marty Slevin, our dedicated kitchen crew, volunteers, and meal groups,“ he added.

Monday’s half millionth meal celebration is open to the public. Dinner will be served at 5:30pm by St. Augustine's Catholic Church and will feature Chef Marty’s special meatloaf made from grass-fed beef provided by Florida Fresh Meat Company.

A few months ago we announced housing our 600th person. Reaching this milestone has given our team confidence and inspired us to do something truly amazing — we aim to double our impact by housing another 300 people by the end of 2019. This is quite an ambitious goal so we have an equally ambitious fundraising goal to match!

We’re looking for 300 people to raise $300.

The 300 Challenge kicks off during The Amazing Give (March 20-21) and will continue until we reach our goal. Will you accept the $300 challenge?

Here’s how you can help:

• Become a fundraising champion. The Amazing Give makes it easy to fundraise on our behalf. In just a few clicks, you can launch your own donation page by clicking the “Fundraise” button on our Amazing Give page.
  
  
• Get social. Use social media, text, or traditional email to share your donation page link. Peer-to-peer fundraising is powerful because it allows us to reach new donors and even the smallest donation add up! 
  
  
• Call on your colleagues. Not sure if you can raise $300 on your own? See if your company will accept the challenge! Check with your team about creating a donation page in your company's name. Better yet, challenge another local company to see who can raise more!
  
  
• Attend our Kick-off Party. Join us on Friday, March 15th at Cypress & Grove from 5-7pm for help setting up your giving page and enjoy music from The Jazz Bandits, food trucks, and locally brewed beer, kombucha, and seltzer on tap!
  
  
  

Jennifer Moises, Case Management Director for GRACE Marketplace, on her passion for hands-on work with the homeless:

Despite the stereotypes, few are homeless by choice; only 7% of Americans living on the streets are chronically homeless. The fact is the majority of those without homes have experienced a catastrophic life event, such as a layoff or the end of a relationship, and now simply have nowhere else to go.