By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Shannon Fisher, co-chair of Project Connect, said someday she’d like the program to go out of business.
Project Connect is one-day program that provides direct services and connections for the community’s most vulnerable residents.
Project Connect co-chairs Erin Hachtel (left) and Shannon Fisher address the kickoff meeting.
She told 30 or so people attending the kickoff meeting Thursday morning: “We would love not to do Project Connect Wood County because that would tell us everyone in our community has a safe place to live, enough food, and a job to support their family. Until we get there, though, we need to do this.”
This is planning. This is putting the gears in motion to stage the multifaceted festival of community care.
The kickoff meeting was held at St. Mark’s Lutheran where four and half months from now guests needing a plethora of services will arrive.
Project Connect will be held at the church Oct. 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
When people arrive, Fisher said, they are not “clients” or “patients,” they are “guests.” Each guest is assigned a host, who helps guide them through the array of services.
The aim is to breakdown the usual formality of a client on one side of a desk, covered with paperwork, and the service provider on the other side soliciting information.
Project Connect takes a more personal approach to determining what someone needs, and then meets those needs if possible on the day of the event, as well as helping guests make connections that will assist them for the rest of the year.
Jamie Brubaker, who chairs the provider committee, said, Project Connect is about being more than a resource fair where someone comes away with a fistful of pamphlets.
It’s about getting help that day. That may be a bag of food. May be a new coat. May be a personal hygiene kit.
Or it may be a haircut. “You wouldn’t believe the smiles coming out of haircut room,” Fisher said. “People are coming out with a fresh look.”
Massages are also popular.
Brubaker said guests can also get birth certificates.
The Wood County Health District brings out a machine to print them on the spot. The cost for the project is $23 a certificate. Last year 110 were provided. Those certificates are a key to applying for other services.
Last year, Project Connect served 773 people, who are either homeless or at high risk of becoming homeless. They represented 282 households, 43 percent of which had children.
They were assisted by 58 service providers, and almost 300 volunteers. The kitchen served 485 hot meals.
The steering committee, which Fisher and Erin Hachtel chair, has 25 people on it. Thirteen committees handle the various functions needed to stage the event. That includes getting the word out to guests and the press, to taking care of the logistics the day of the event, managing parking, putting together food bags, recruiting providers, cooking and serving hot meals, and more.
Project Connect is looking for people to chair the food bag, volunteer and publicity committees. Volunteer opportunities are available the day of the event as well as leading up to the day.
Those wishing to help can reach out via the Facebook page: facebook.com/ProjectConnectWoodCounty or by emailing erinhachtel@yahoo.com or Shannon.fisher@jfs.ohio.gov.
Organizing all that is why the kickoff meeting was months before the first guests arrive.
County Commissioner Doris Herringshaw, honorary chair of Project Connect, said the efforts are worthwhile.
She spoke to one woman who said her elderly mother spent the entire day in bed. Through Project Connect she learned about services for the elderly that were available, and now her mother is out and about and has something to look forward to each day.
“We are changing lives,” Herringshaw said. “I want you to know, we do save lives.”
