Byko: Veterans Comfort House needs help
In some ways, organizations are like people.
In your life, over the course of time, you experience periods of clear sailing and times when you skid on a rough patch.
The Philadelphia Veterans Comfort House is emerging from a rough patch.
Founded in 1994, the Comfort House was imagined as a place where veterans, commuting between the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center and their homes across Pennsylvania, could find shelter and meals, free of charge. The idea was modeled after the Ronald McDonald House.
At the start, the mission "was to provide temporary housing during treatment," I'm told by Dana Spain, president of the board of directors. It is now becoming an "emergency situation shelter" veterans can use until they get help from the Veterans Administration. The VA helps connect them with other agencies that can help them get their benefits, says Spain, who became president in December.
Around the middle of last year, the Comfort House lost its footing and its funding, and was faced with big repair bills. An effective fund-raiser, Spain stepped up because of what she calls her devotion to "pets and vets."
I met her more than a decade ago, as I was covering animal issues in Philadelphia and the then-disgraceful situation at the animal shelter. Spain was an effective animal advocate and took it on herself to launch PAWS -- the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society -- a successful animal-adoption nonprofit.
She is now focusing on our veterans. The last thing any of us want to see is a veteran sleeping under a bridge or sick and hopeless.
Finances at the Comfort House were so bad, says Spain, the board was thinking about closing the four-bedroom, two-story house at 4108 Baltimore Avenue.
The Comfort House's annual budget is about $250,000 and the board needed an additional $200,000 for renovations and code compliance. The House desperately needs new HVAC, as the current system is outdated and hopeless. A new roof and fire escape are also required.
"We have already received a lot of in-kind donations in labor and materials from trade unions and sub contractors in the construction industry," says Spain, but a lot more is needed. There's a "donate" button on the website provided above, but if you'd rather send a check, make it out to the Veterans Comfort House and mail it to the House at 4108 Baltimore Avenue, Phila., Pa. 19104.
"We're the place when they have no place else to go," says Spain.