By Jennifer Hancock
Every holiday season Volunteers of America Mid-States works to serve a population that can be overlooked amid the celebrations and festivities — families working every day to overcome homelessness.
As VOA determines our priorities each year, we remain focused on keeping families housed, safe and united. At our Unity House, we work to provide families with life-changing, long-term housing stability. Our service is even more urgent during the holiday season. Jefferson County Public Schools have more than 6,000 students who will experience the crisis of homelessness at some point this year. We are here for them and know how to build safe and secure futures for these vulnerable youth and their families.
Our Hope for the Holidays campaign is essential to our work and is vital to supporting Unity House. We provide household essentials like linens and towels. We provide personal items and clothing like winter coats and hygiene products. We also support our families with gifts that brighten their holidays, like the toys, books and games that every child deserves this time of year.
For this campaign to serve the families who count on us, we need to provide easy and convenient ways for people to support our mission. As giving habits and preferences become more and more driven to mobile devices and social platforms, we are always working to connect with our friends and supporters to provide options for how they can support families in need. One way for us to make connecting with our mission easier is by utilizing Facebook for donations. Facebook is a natural way to support our work and an important way we can maximize the reach and effectiveness of our generous partners. Maximizing our ability to utilize a convenient platform that our friends and donors use every day is an important and ongoing priority.
Social media offers VOA an opportunity to not just promote our work but to collaborate with incredibly organizations across the region. This holiday season we are partnering with companies on raffles, giveaways and so much. The cross promotional opportunity we now have are limitless.
VOA serves more than 10,000 individuals in nearly fifty programs across four states annually and we must ensure our supporters can access us conveniently and consistently. Facebook is a tool that we are committed to continuing to leverage and grow – especially as the demand for our services continues to grow in communities across the region not just during the holidays but every day throughout the year. So this holiday season, find a great cause to support, like their page, share their work, and help out or friends and neighbors who need it.
