As a PR firm, our office is often drowning in magazines. We do our best to keep things organized, but publications don’t stop circulating, which means we need to purge old issues to make room for the new. It didn’t feel right tossing or recycling perfectly good reading material, so we set out to find a good new home for our trusty magazines.
Our intern, Catie, discovered The Delores Project, a shelter for unaccompanied women experiencing homelessness. According to the organization’s website:
“The principal program of The Delores Project is providing safe, comfortable overnight shelter for adult unaccompanied women in a welcoming and peaceful environment. Our model of service is one of hospitality, respect and regard for the dignity of each guest.”
The program is unique because it exclusively serves unaccompanied women. The group finds that single women without children are often overlooked, yet according to the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative’s 2009 Point-In-Time study, 1,606 single women are homeless on any given night in Denver. The shelter provides a comfortable space dedicated to fostering the unique needs of single women.
The Delores Project designates 50 beds for women in its Transitional Shelter program. Women in the program receive one-on-one support in seeking long-term housing and stability. The shelter also designates several beds for women in emergency circumstances.
One particularly beneficial aspect of the shelter is its Saturday activities program. Shelter Manager Carolyn Moreno organizes a variety of activities for the women, including yoga, meditation, karaoke and crafting – including making vision boards. The activities help to create a sense of community among the women, Moreno says. When we heard that our magazines would not just be enjoyed as reading material at the shelter, but were also needed for an upcoming Saturday activity, we were thrilled.
The next vision board-making session is scheduled for March, during which time the women will cut out images from the magazines to create collages. The collages are meant to represent what the women envision for their futures. Creating vision boards is a frequent activity at the shelter, and has been a big hit, Moreno says.
We’re confident that the abundance of aspirational travel, food and other images available in the magazines provided by BPR will be a fun addition to the project, and we’re excited to see the completed boards.
To learn more about The Delores Project, or find out how you can help, visit its website.
