Our Impact on Families
Currently, Project HEALTH’s corps of 500 volunteers assists over 4,000 families a year in accessing the resources they need to be healthy.
The results are significant. Over a five-month period last year, Family Help Desk clients at Boston Medical Center received the following resources:
- 205 families secured housing, including Section 8 and market rate units and shelters
- 154 clients obtained slots in child care, after school, and Head Start programs
- 135 clients accessed food stamps, food pantries, dollar-a-bag programs, or farmers' markets
Across our 22 Family Help Desks, an average of over 30% of families actually obtain at least one resource they need – i.e., receive food, secure child care, find an apartment – within 90 days of receiving services at the Desk, with the remainder receiving ongoing follow-up until they obtain the resource.
Volunteers continue to follow with all families until they obtain appropriate resources to meet each of their needs. Over three-quarters of Family Help Desk clients present with multiple needs, and over one-third of clients present with 3 or more needs. On average, each client receives assistance in accessing an average of three different community resources.
In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit North Carolina. As the water rose, Mr. and Ms. Johnson and their two daughters fled empty-handed. Everything they owned was destroyed.
Two years later at Boston Medical Center, Ms. Johnson gave birth to a baby girl. When a Project HEALTH volunteer visited Ms. Johnson's recovery room, she found the family joyful at the child’s arrival but fearful of imminent homelessness. As disaster victims, they had previously qualified for a subsidized apartment. But their landlord had recently sued for market rent on the unit they lived in – a rate that would have consumed over 90% of the income Mr. Johnson earned each month in his work as a carpenter – and the judge had ordered the family to move. They faced years-long waiting lists everywhere they had looked. The Project HEALTH volunteer who worked with the Johnsons recalls, “I’ll never forget the look on the daughters’ faces as they sat by their mom. I was determined not to let this family end up in a homeless shelter.”
She scoured the many disparate lists of local subsidized units until she finally found a brand-new 3-bedroom unit that had just become available, for which she helped the Johnsons apply. As a result, they had a safe home for their children, including their newborn.
