Dear Friends-
While I truly believe that we’re closer to the end of the pandemic than we are to the beginning, the last several weeks have reminded the entire agency that the threat of the virus is still very real. In late January, we had our first COVID positive case for a guest in our NEST emergency shelter program. The agency worked quickly to identify close contacts and to secure designated COVID-positive housing in the community for our affected families. We are especially thankful for our friends Julia Gamble with the Duke Outpatient Clinic and Sally Wilson with Project Access for their timely assistance in securing housing, transportation and food for our families in COVID+ housing. I’d be remiss not to mention the guidance and support provided by Colin Davis at the Community Development Department, Liz Petzold at Duke, and Hannah Byers and Liz Stevens at the Durham County Department of Public Health.
FMF has hosted weekly on-site COVID testing for guests and staff over the last three weeks with no new positive cases identified. We expect to host additional on-site testing for at least the next two weeks. We have temporarily paused new intakes per the guidance of our public health colleagues and plan to resume new intakes as soon as it is safe to do so. We are happy to report that our guest that first tested positive is on the mend and that, with one exception, our other positive cases have thus far been asymptomatic children. I think that it’s important to remember that while COVID is very real and that we need to take every precaution, it is not typically a deadly disease for those that are young and healthy. Like some of you, I can no longer identify as the former and strive every day for the latter.
It has been hard to see the anxiety and concern in the faces of both our staff and guests as these recent events have unfolded. Words can only go so far, and it’s clear to me that the only thing that will address both the spoken and unspoken concerns are more negative tests and mass vaccinations for all who want them. Shelter staff are currently in Group 3 for vaccinations while our guests are in Group 4. I hate this disparity and FMF has taken the step of advocating with NC DHHS to have both staff and guests in Group 1 like other long-term residential facilities. This pandemic has made us acutely aware of what we do and don’t control. Please know that we at FMF are all doing our best to model care, kindness, and concern to our guests and each other during this difficult time. I hope that you are doing the same. Thank you for supporting FMF and our families. We’ll get through this together.
Volunteers Needed for our first Aftercare Houseware Share!
This OUTDOOR, SOCIALLY DISTANCED AND MASKED event will happen March 6th, 2021 from 7:30am - 3:00pm at Elizabeth Street UMC. Please email imani@fmfnc.org with questions or to sign up to volunteer. We have not had a lot of folks sign up yet, so please join us if you can!
Load items from Restaurant
Unloading & Sorting (11:00am-1:00pm)
Clean up (1:00pm-3:00pm)
Transportation (2 volunteer needed): (7:30-10:00am)
Houseware Share Location:
Restaurant Location: Gocciolina 3314 Guess Rd Durham, NC 27705
Gifts Cards, please!
We can't believe that the abundance of Gift Cards we received over the Holidays is almost gone. The pandemic has certainly altered many of our service deliveries and providing Gift Cards more frequently to the families that we serve is one of them.
Please consider sending or dropping off Gift Cards, especially from the following retailers:
We'll take any Gift Card and in any increment, but $25 is the most helpful. Please contact shana@fmfnc.org to schedule a time to drop some off. Thank you!!! Our Contact Information *{{Organization Name}}* *{{Organization Address}}* *{{Organization Phone}}* *{{Organization Website}}*
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