APRIL 2022
Give Up Your Bed on
The Night of May 21st
Myth: I don’t know why they don’t make better choices. If it were me, I would just go to the doctor or the ER.
Truth: Sometimes there isn’t a ‘good’ choice when you are living on the streets. UCSF research revealed that only a short time on the streets can age an individual the equivalent of being decades older than your actual age. Ritter Center’s new mobile health van is intended to bring primary medical care
Myth: I feel helpless. There is nothing I can do as an individual to help.
Truth: You can get involved and make a difference. As a nonprofit, Ritter Center relies on the generosity of donors and volunteers to help fulfill our mission. If you can spare a few hours each week or month, we need volunteers to help sort and distribute food at our pantry. You can also donate to a variety of fundraising programs that support our housing and healthcare services, and seasonal programs that provide school supplies and backpacks to students, and holiday dinners.
Housing is really medicine to our patients.
-Ritter Center
Family Nurse Practitioner
The average life expectancy for chronically homeless individuals is 28 years less than a
housed individual.
What if we thought of this question the next time we passed someone living on the streets?
We can end homelessness. Now that’s a sentence we don’t often hear. Instead, what we usually hear is this: the homeless situation has gotten exponentially worse. Nothing can help. Throwing lots of money at it in the past has not helped. Why don’t we just stop trying?
Nothing could be further from the truth. Now is not the time to throw up our hands in despair and quit. Over the last 40 years, we have learned that health and safety of people living in poverty is directly related to the health and safety of our entire community. We are all connected. Together, we can end chronic homelessness and we know how to do it. How is this possible?
Let’s take a few minutes to address myths on this subject.
Myth: Most homeless people do not want to be housed.
Truth: “In my decades of working with the community, I have rarely met an individual who does not want to be housed,” said Mark Shotwell, Executive Director of Ritter Center. Under the Housing First approach, anyone experiencing homelessness should be connected to a permanent home as quickly as possible, and programs should remove barriers to accessing housing, such as requirements for sobriety or absence of criminal history. Based on the hierarchy of need, Housing First recognizes that people must access basic necessities such as a safe place to live and food to eat before being able to achieve quality of life or pursue personal goals.
Myth: People should get their act together before we give them housing.
Truth: Here in Marin County, Ritter Center is proud to be a leader in the evidence-based practice of Housing First. This is an approach to serving people experiencing homelessness that recognizes an unsheltered person must first be able to access a safe place to live without a limit to the length of stay before stabilizing and improving their health, reducing harmful behaviors, or increasing their income.
Myth: That could never happen to me.
Truth: Each of us may be just steps away from homelessness. Society does not acknowledge the role of trauma, abuse, addiction, or the loss of relationships in homelessness. Society also doesn’t recognize the extremely high cost of living here and that having a job doesn’t necessarily cover expenses. Many of the individuals and families we help work multiple jobs but still live in poverty and have to choose between paying the rent and putting food on the table.
The pandemic has been traumatic for people. We know that trauma without a support network to fall back on leads to enduring homelessness.
This is where Ritter Center comes in: medical care, behavioral healthcare, food and housing services in one place. We provide a complete support solution for families and individuals who are on the edge of becoming homeless or who are currently experiencing homelessness. Equally important, we provide a vital dose of
human connection.
services to people who are unsheltered and do not have access to a medical provider. We can utilize medical services as an outreach tool to create linkages with other important services like behavioral health, assessment for shelter and housing, and access to income. This is a natural extension of our mission to treat the whole person. The impact on the entire health care system is also enormous. Fewer hospitalizations save money. Both of these initiatives will make significant inroads into the community and bring benefits to the entire population.
REGISTER TODAY
Ritter Center is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization based in San Rafael, Marin County, California. Our mission is to prevent and resolve homelessness and improve the health, dignity and well-being of people living in poverty in Marin County by providing high-quality, culturally sensitive, easily accessible medical care and social services. www.RitterCenter.org
Simply form a team or join a team to participate. Give up your warm bed for just one night and ask your friends and family to support your efforts. Registered participants can access their own Participant Center to help them fundraise and there are prizes for top fundraisers and the largest team. On the night of the event, participants will enjoy live-streamed activities from 6:00–7:30 pm PT hosted by Ritter Center's Executive Director, Mark Shotwell, and remarks by several elected officials. The founder of Pathways to Housing, Sam Tsemberis, PhD, who took the Housing First model worldwide, will be a key speaker. Dr. Tsemberis founded Pathways to Housing in New York City in 1992, based on the belief that housing is a basic human right: people experiencing homelessness and struggling with mental illness or addiction should not have to prove they are housing ready. Housing First is a program philosophy founded on love, respect, and creating possibilities.
We’ll wrap up with an awards ceremony for top fundraisers, along with yoga, a sound bath and bedtime story. This immersive, memorable event will help bring our community together, connecting us for one night to the plight of those without a place to call home with the shared goal of ending homelessness.
**All paid registrants get a FREE Under the Stars t-shirt.** Sign up solo or start a team! Register at: Sleepout.RitterCenter.org
Ritter Center is proud to be a part of Marin County’s
network of Housing First Providers that have permanently
housed and served over 460 individuals since 2017.
How much does it cost to permanently house a chronically homeless individual each year?
$25,000
How much does it cost to provide emergency services to a chronically homeless individual who is unsheltered
each year?
$65,000
Ron Greene Photography
Margot Duane Photography
Margot Duane Photography
This spring, team up with your family and friends on Saturday, May 21, for Ritter Center's Under the Stars: A Sleepout to End Homelessness and help raise $175,000 for Ritter Center's housing support and healthcare services that prevent and
resolve homelessness.
Housing is a right and homelessness is solvable. We believe everyone deserves a safe place to call home, regardless of income. While choosing to sleep in an area other than your own bedroom cannot recreate what it feels like to be homeless, Ritter Center's second annual Under the Stars sleepout will raise awareness of the complex issues around homelessness, and shatter common myths while building compassion as a community and raising vital funds.
of clients that Ritter Center serves have experienced homelessness
of clients that Ritter Center serves are housed and receive supportive services including healthcare,
benefits assistance, and behavioral
health support
Many individuals and families in Marin County are facing increasingly harder times. Economic instability, rising fuel, food and rental costs, and chronic health concerns are pushing more people into poverty and many people are living on the streets, in vehicles, or in the hills around our county.
35%
65%
Who of us would want to be seen at our worst moment
and have our potential defined by it?
-Mark Shotwell
Ritter Center Executive Director
Ritter Center doesn’t only serve those living on the streets. The Bay Area’s incredibly high cost of living means many of our clients come from a variety of situations and many of our programs prevent homelessness.