I watched Monday night's public hearing on the IFC's proposed new shelter on Homestead Road with dismay. Every time the IFC identifies an affordable parcel of land appropriate for a new Homestart shelter, the neighbors object. Although the Town Council does a good job of responding to the concerns of neighborhoods, this time we have a pickle. The shelter has to move. It cannot stay downtown and achieve the type of service the town and the IFC want to provide to our homeless male population. To help promote a more positive dialogue, I'd like to propose that we stop talking about "the shelter" and begin discussing the various services currently offered by the IFC and the new proposed services.

I usually try to discourage wholesale posting of press releases - as I'm about to do - but this just sounds like a great idea and I don't have anything to add to it.

Orange County’s Partnership to End Homelessness would like to invite the public to participate in a “Community Read” of the book The Soloist by Steve Lopez.  The event is the first in a series of community education activities that will explore the issues of homelessness.

From IFC:

From the IFC calendar:

"RSVVP" stands for "Restaurants Sharing 10 Percent" (The V's are Roman numeral 5's, so V+V=10). Participating restaurants contribute 10% of their total proceeds on that day to benefit the IFC, Food Bank of Eastern and Central North Carolina and the Urban Ministries of Durham Community Kitchen to fight hunger in the Triangle.

Now you have an excuse to go out and eat! Breakfast, lunch or dinner, it doesn't matter. Visit an old favorite, or give a new restaurant a try. Tell your friends and family to not only feed themselves, but feed others in the community at the same time! Read more at www.rsvvp.org.

From the N & O:

This weekend I learned there would be a press conference today at 10 am (ie: right now) to reveal the new location of the InterFaith Council's homeless shelter. Of course, this tantalizing e-mail didn't name the location, but based on the particpants I think we have a pretty strong clue.

Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser will be joined by Chris Moran, executive director of the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, Rev. Richard Edens, a United Church of Chapel Hill pastor, and other community leaders as they announce a new partnership to benefit the community’s homeless.