Gathering for Women

"Thank you for your kindness...your concern for others...your group has restored my belief there is hope for humanity. You are each special people changing lives of others."

Welcome to Gathering for Women

Gathering for Women is Still Serving Our Guests

For the past several months most of us were sheltering in place, fearful to leave home, wiping down everything, and washing our hands constantly. The Peninsula was a ghost town with only the homeless on the streets. Imagine the fear of this invisible virus when you cannot shelter in your own home, or take a hot shower and put on clean clothes, or even wash your hands. For homeless women, there is no place to call home.

Homelessness can happen to anyone – especially during this pandemic and economic downturn. We expect to see our numbers increase in the months ahead as the toll of unemployment, economic uncertainty and COVID require more women to seek help. However, homelessness does not have to equal hopelessness.

Our Day Center has remained open during the pandemic, with a skeleton staff and volunteers providing services. With the Food Bank stretched beyond capacity, we were able to partner with local restaurants to ensure nutritious takeout meals for our guests. In turn, restaurants were able to keep their workers employed.

Each weekday our 20-30 guests arrive for take away breakfasts and lunches; access to showers, clean clothes, soap, masks, hand sanitizers and other necessities from our clothes closet. They receive case management to help them find employment and housing opportunities, and access to mental health counseling through our partner, Interim. We are grateful we can continue to serve them and provide a safe space even if for just a short while before they go back to the streets or their cars until they can come to us again. All of these services help them stay safe and healthy, and decrease the likelihood of COVID-19 transmission within the homeless community.

Between the first day of the shelter in place order on March 13 and the lifting on June 12, we provided 4,980 meals, 437 clothes closet visits, 694 showers, and 306 case management visits. We also have placed 1 guest in permanent housing, 6 in temporary housing, and 12 in short term hotel stays.

And even with all this going on around us, I have the most exciting news to share! With our partner Community Human Services, we broke ground on Casa de Noche Buena, the Peninsula’s first 90-day shelter with wrap around services for homeless women and children with families. We hope to open this shelter in November if funding is in place. You can see the virtual groundbreaking at: https://www.gatheringforwomen.org/casa-de-noche-buena.html

As Gathering for Women navigates these challenging days and continues to plan for the future, we trust we can count on your support. Your partnership with us ensures that we can continue to provide continuity of care and a safe and nurturing place for our most vulnerable residents.

Please donate here now to help us continue this important work.

Visit my page for more about our COVID-19 practices.

Thank you for your support!

Staci M. Alziebler-Perkins
Executive Director