This was another great meeting at the The Pirates House. The club was treated to a talk by our very own Cindy Kelley who gave a presentation on the Tiny House Project.
Cindy is President of the The Chatham Savannah Authority for the Homeless (CSAH). The CSAH was founded in 1989 by the Georgia Legislature to help lead homeless services in Chatham County. However, it has not been able to make a significant impact in the homeless community as the number of homeless people has remained around 4000 in this area for decades. The greater community does a good job providing meals and services to homeless but those have limited success if the people who are being served don’t have a home. Most homeless people have an income of around $400-800 per month usually from the VA or disability.
Cindy realized that there need to be long term strategic planning for finding homes for the homeless and had a bit of inspiration after watching HGTV one night. She saw Tiny Houses and realized this would be a great way to start. The Tiny House project began with the goal of building 12 homes for homeless veterans and has now turned into 72 homes with a budget of $1.7 million. Each home comes fully furnished at a cost $6998 which does not include the labor to build it. The homes will be organized into villages of 12 and each person will have to pay rent of $210. There are currently 238 homeless veterans in Savannah so a lottery will take place in order to determine who will be able to move into the village. The goal is to raise enough money that the first village of 12 will be complete in Spring 2018. The land for the site is 3.25 acres and a model of a house can be seen at the corner of Wheaton and Liberty which is 4 blocks from the actual building site.
RCSE in conjunction with Savannah South and Savannah West will be sponsoring a GRSP student for the upcoming 2017/2018 school year.
The selection process was finalized recently and our student has finally completed the process for his journey. Brendan Mungwena from Zimbabwe is the student we are sponsoring. He was born in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and just recently celebrated his 22nd birthday. Brendan is the fourth born in a family of eight, with one older brother & four sisters. His father is retired and his mother is a house wife. He was originally exposed to Rotary through his sister who is a former Rotaract President. While he was in high school he helped form his school’s Interact Club. He plans to study Accounting/Economics or Business Mgmt while at Armstrong. When asked how the GRSP program will benefit him for the future, he responded “I hope to learn how to develop my country by learning and understanding diverse ways of living. I would like the opportunity to be a part of something big which will bring about world peace. Through interactive and social experiences I would also grow my own way of understanding and expertise on how to be a proficient leader. I also wish to grasp the opportunity granted to me be excelling in my academics.”
Please add mailservice@clubrunner.com to your safe sender list or address book.
To unsubscribe from future e-mails, click here.
To forward this email to your friends, click here.
To view our privacy policy, click here.
ClubRunner
905.829.5299
102-2060 Winston Park Drive, Oakville, ON, L6H 5R7
