Stand Down 2008

Homeless Attend Health Fair at Cleveland Convention Center

On Friday February 1, 2008 at the Cleveland Convention Center over 600 homeless people attended one of the largest Health and Human Services fairs in our history. We should have final numbers in two weeks, but it was packed Friday. The Convention Center is a great place for the event, and we thank them for all their help. There were 60 providers including 20 health care providers on site. Haircuts and massage specialists. Great food from Catholic Charities, and nearly every shelter were a vital part of this year's event. In the picture, you can see Leonard Spence registering people to vote. We registered 21 people to vote. (Yes, homeless people do vote!) NEOCH also signed up 23 people with new voice mail telephone numbers.

It was a great event this year, and there will be plenty more photos in the next Grapevine. Gospel artist Jeff Major attended and then did a concert at the Word Church. Radio One did a large amount of free advertising of the event, and we had help from the County, City of Cleveland, Salvation Army, Veterans Administration, Cosgrove Center, Trinity Cathedral, Lakeside Shelter, and InterAct Cleveland. There are two more smaller events coming over the next two weeks. InterAct is still looking for a few volunteers for the Stand Down on President's Day. Special thanks to Pam, Megan, and Sr. Donna from InterAct, Nicole from Cosgrove, Kathy and Karil from the Department of Public Health, Rosemary from County Office of Homeless Services, Josh and Larry from NEOCH, Toni from the VA, and Dorothy from Divine Outreach Ministry for all their work in planning this event.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.