For its second annual Good Neighbor Month, Father Joe\u2019s Villages (FJV) is leading the way in September, hosting several community-oriented events to raise awareness about homelessness. The monthlong series of activities is being sponsored by Wells Fargo Bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the success of last year\u2019s inaugural Good Neighbor Month, we are looking forward to another great opportunity to engage San Diegans with some unique ways to learn about the broad spectrum of homelessness issues, the meaning of neighbors and how to help,\u201d said Deacon Jim F. Vargas, president and CEO of Father Joe\u2019s Villages.<\/p>\n
Vargas said the idea behind Good Neighbor Month is to inspire people to \u201cmake a difference in another person\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The deacon said that can be accomplished through acts of humanism both large and small.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might be your next-door neighbor who\u2019s homebound that you go out and do shopping for,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cA day shouldn\u2019t go by in the life of anyone where they can\u2019t look back on that day and say they didn\u2019t do something for someone else. This should become a common thing: something we take to heart on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n September Good Neighbor events include:<\/p>\n Good Neighbor Month is part of a broader promotional strategy being used by FJV, San Diego\u2019s largest homeless services provider, in the fight to end homelessness.<\/p>\n On Aug. 24, to dramatize the magnitude of the plight of the San Diego region\u2019s growing homeless population \u2014 which grew about 3 percent last year according to the annual count by the Regional Task Force On The Homeless \u2014 FJV volunteers set up a temporary \u201csea of shoes\u201d on 16th Street at Newton Avenue, Downtown.<\/p>\n Pointing out that 17,400 is \u201ca lot of shoes,\u201d Vargas noted that the act graphically illustrates \u00a0\u201cthe immensity of the crisis we have in San Diego County.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThose 8,700 pairs of shoes represent men, women and children who are homeless,\u201d he said. \u201cOnly about half of those people are housed in some way. The rest are on the street. That\u2019s a travesty.\u201d<\/p>\n Vargas said Good Neighbor Month fits nicely with new, more aggressive strategies FJV is utilizing to get the message out to the public that the homeless need their help.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, FJV unveiled a new brand identity, including a new logo and website. Now, it\u2019s time, said Vargas, for FJV to take its message of humanism to the next level.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to have TV commercials that are a call to action, where we\u2019re asking people to band together as a community to end this crisis [homelessness],\u201d Vargas said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take a concerted effort from the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n Vargas said the new promotional TV spots will carry tag lines such as \u201cBe like Father Joe\u201d and \u201cYou can make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, we can build on this,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cThe key is to build awareness and call people to action asking them to get involved \u2014 volunteer, make monetary or other donations such as furniture, cars or items for our thrift shops.\u201d<\/p>\n Father Joe\u2019s Villages has been empowering people to achieve self-sufficiency for 65 years. The organization, which started as a small chapel serving San Diego\u2019s impoverished, has grown into a cutting-edge, region-wide provider of effective housing programs and services.<\/p>\n Father Joe\u2019s prepares up to 3,000 meals and works with more than 1,500 individuals every day \u2014 from infants and adolescents to adults and seniors.\u00a0 FJV offers solutions to address the complex needs of the homeless, regardless of age, race, culture or beliefs.<\/p>\n The organization\u2019s primary goal is to transform lives and end the cycle of homelessness. To this end, they provide housing, healthcare, food, clothing, education, job training and child development in an internationally modeled \u201cone-stop-shop\u201d approach.<\/p>\n FJV\u2019s mission is made possible only through the efforts of compassionate staff, dedicated volunteers, and generous public and private donors.<\/p>\n For more information about the activities planned for Good Neighbor Month, visit\u00a0neighbor.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Dave Schwab came to San Diego 30 years ago with a journalism degree from Michigan State University and has worked and freelanced for numerous dailies, weeklies and other regional publications. He can be reached at <\/em>dschwabie@journalist.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Dave Schwab<\/p>","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":237918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Keepers of the neighborhood","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Volunteers](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Shoes-1webtop.jpg\")
<\/a>\n