ORLANDO UNION RESCUE MISSION (OURM)
From time to time, various agencies benefiting from
our volunteer efforts will be highlighted. In this
month’s newsletter, we will highlight the Orlando Union
Rescue Mission (OURM).
OURM has two locations, both serving homeless individuals
and families of Central Florida. One is the
Men’s Shelter and the other is the Women’s and Family
Shelter on West Washington Street. Of course, this
agency is a 501c3 organization, as defined under the
Internal Revenue Code for non-profit organizations.
This organization was formed in 1948 and is a faithbased
organization providing shelter, food, education
and hope to homeless individuals and families and
their mission statement really says what they do in a
very straight forward manner. That statement is
“bringing the hungry, hurting and homeless to a new
life, new goals and a new future in Christ”.
In 2009, OURM served more than 254,590 hot meals
to hungry men, women and children, and offered
more than 91,900 nights of shelter to weary individuals.
The Mission here is Orlando is one of the few facilities
nationwide offering homeless families an opportunity
to remain together in one unit. While residents
of the long-term transitional unit of the Mission
can stay in the facility for up to one year, the average
is considerably less. However long the residents are
in the program, they and their children leave with far
more skills than when they arrived.
In addition to providing shelter and food to homeless
individuals and families, OURM has instituted a
“Learning Lab” at the Women’s and Family location.
This learning lab came about as the result of a study
showing homeless children have an average highschool graduation rate of less than 25 percent.
OURM wanted to do something to turn
that tide. The lab has been successful in
bringing homeless kids up to their grade level
in reading and math and in instilling in them
not only the desire to learn, but teaching
them skills to encourage future learning.
This lab has been expanded to help adults
complete their high school work so they can
get a better job to support their families.
A group of Pioneers go to the Mission on a
quarterly basis to do whatever job the Mission
staff needs doing. Some of the things
we have done is sort over 800 pair of shoes
that were donated for a project last Easter.
We have assisted in many projects preparing
for the annual “One Homeless Night” initiative
sponsored by the Mission. We have
sorted toilet articles for distribution to clients
and homeless individuals – and the best part
– we have had fun doing it!
Come join us on our next quarterly visit. See
or call Virginia Clark for information. Her
telephone number is 407-886-0856.
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March for Meals Reminder
Kathy Lynch, our VP will be walking. If you
would like to sponsor her, make checks payable
to: Meals on Wheels, Etc. and mail to
her at 136 Citrus Court West, Longwood, FL
32750. Thank you.
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2010 CENSUS TO BEGIN
The U. S. Census process is beginning, and the
Better Business Bureau advises people to be
cooperative, but cautious. If a Census worker
knocks on your door, they will have an identification
badge; a handheld device; a Census Bureau
canvas bag; and a confidentiality notice.
Be sure to ask to see their identification and
their badge before answering questions. The
U. S. Census Bureau will not contact you via email,
so be on the lookout for e-mail scams
impersonating the Census.
Do not give out your social security number
nor any banking or credit card information and
they will not solicit any “donations”. Eventually
more than 140,000 Census workers will
count every person in the United States but
there will probably be at least twice that many
scam artists trying to obtain information they
should not have. Don’t be a victim of a scam
artist posing as a U. S. Census taker and don’t
invite anyone you do not know into your
home.
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NEWS FLASH!!!
We have received two emails regarding the
Christmas Boxes we sent to the Troops.
Sparky is having a great time adding some
really good morale to the soldiers. This is
great hearing from the soldiers and how much
they appreciate the goodies that we sent.
Hearing from them and exactly what they did
with the items is especially heart warming!
Sounds like they may have had a few smiles
during Christmas and you made it happen!
Thank you. Gloria Pazel
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SPARKY UPDATE!!!
As reported by LTC Mason Kerr, “Sparky is doing
fine. We just returned from Kandahar and Bagram,
Afghanistan. It was cold in the evening, but
I only had him out during the day for photo ops.
There are alot of NATO forces around the camps in
Afghanistan. We visited with the Marines out in
the west. I got some photos of him at the airfield
with planes and helicopters in the background. It
is flat terrain with mountains in the distance. We
have been spending time in Kuwait. .... I will mail
the camera back soon when I finish taking the
photos. I have about ten more to shoot.”
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