New Year, New Me
Dear Trojan Shelter Family,
Welcome to 2020 and the new semester! Thanks to your support, Trojan Shelter has now been open for over two months. With the new year comes the opportunity to reflect and commit to improvement. For Trojan Shelter, reflection and improvement have been the center of focus for the last several weeks.
In mid-January, the Trojan Shelter E-Board took a day to have a Vision Meeting which discussed the short and long-term goals of the organization. Brainstorming areas for improvement and expansion ignited excitement and ambition across our members -- we are thrilled to share this journey with you!
The first couple months with our residents moved in have been quite a journey. We learned what would work best to accommodate our residents comfortably and adjusted our volunteer procedure accordingly. We worked to bring healthy, tasty meals to our residents, served every night in a family-style dinner. Family-style dinners help build a community amongst the volunteers and residents to make the space feel cozy and familiar.
One of the organization’s goals has been to maximize the comfort of our existing and incoming residents. Last month, we sought resident feedback to understand how we can improve their experience in the space. Some of the changes include expanding our open hours and implementing “Engagement Teams” amongst our volunteers. Volunteers will break up into groups during our meetings to tackle specific projects that would improve the space, such as decorating, events, and “Study Saturdays,” our new program to stay open on Saturdays and hold monthly activities for both the residents and volunteers.
We are also looking forward to launching our new project: An Amazon Wishlist! Having a wishlist will allow our supporters to know what the house needs most and where your donations are going. We will keep the wishlist live consistently, adding items we think will benefit our space. We hope to create a more direct connection between our wonderful supporters and our residents. The wishlist is now live and you start taking a look at what we need here!
With so many improvements coming up, the future of Trojan Shelter is bright and promising. Our visions for the next year could not be attainable without the support from all of you. The various forms of contribution from all of you - donations, volunteering, activism - is what allows Trojan Shelter to dream so big. We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for making the past two months a reality. We can’t wait to embark on the new year with our entire community sharing our triumphs.
Sincerely,
Matthew Lee, Trojan Shelter Director of Media
For more information about Trojan Shelter, go to trojanshelter.org
To help support us financially, go to trojanshelter.org/donate. Make sure to specify that your tax-deductible donation will be going to Trojan Shelter!