Landmark Contribution Boosts Homeless Effort

By DEBBIE MESSINA

By Debbie Messina

The Virginian-Pilot

NORFOLK

The city is close to reaching its $1.6 million goal for a new initiative to help homeless people, thanks to a $318,000 donation announced Wednesday.

The donation from the Landmark Communications Foundation to three homeless programs will help house 26 mentally ill single adults and eight families. It is the largest private donation so far to the city’s campaign to end chronic homelessness by 2015.

The foundation is the philanthropic arm of The Virginian-Pilot’s parent company.

“Having a corporation step up to the plate and invest in the 10- year plan makes such a difference insuring the plan will be a success,” said Thaler McCormick, president of the Norfolk Homeless Consortium and executive director of ForKids. “We need other corporations and others in the community to follow Landmark’s lead.”

The grants are:

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$140,000 to ForKids to help buy and renovate a six-unit apartment building in Park Place for permanent supportive housing for homeless families.

The new property will boost the number of families ForKids can house to 32. ForKids provides a mix of emergency, transitional and permanent housing.

ForKids had plans to expand its programs, but the rising cost of renovations put the project in jeopardy. “The Landmark contribution has made it possible now,” McCormick said.

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$100,000 to New Hope Church of God in Christ to purchase a building with two apartments in Norview to start a transitional shelter for homeless families with teenage boys.

Church members saw that need because some emergency shelter programs, especially battered women’s shelters, will not accept them, said Katie Kitchin, director of the city’s Office to End Homelessness.

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$78,000 to My Own Place to furnish apartments and pay for medical care and special activities for 26 adults with severe mental illness who have been living on the streets for at least one year.

The city already has received about $1.3 million in federal and other grants for the My Own Place program. With the Landmark donation, $200,000 more needs to be raised to reach the goal of housing 85 people, Kitchin said.

Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com

city’s grants

The city has received about $1.3 million in federal and other grants for the My Own Place program.

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