Give the gift that really matters – a safe place to call home.
Maine is in the middle of a housing crisis. The state is short 80,000 units spanning all income levels. ProsperityME has seen the direct impact of this crisis on our community. As we write this letter over 71 unhoused immigrants are in the office waiting for help and another 60 families are still in hotels, unable to find a place to rent.
This is why your support for ProsperityME is crucial to our success. Together with your support, we can do more to help new immigrants with no place to go. With your support, we can expand the services we provide to people who need shelter.
Helping an immigrant mother find "home"
On a Wednesday afternoon, a pregnant woman came to the ProsperityME office. She was a newly arrived immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and she was due to have her baby that Saturday.
She was sleeping on the floor of a homeless shelter in Portland and due to deliver her baby in less than a week. Yet, she was not eligible to be placed in a “family shelter.” She had no friends or family in the area. When she arrived at our office, she was wearing flip flops and a light dress, carrying a small bag with a towel, which was all she owned.
Our team sensed her desperate call for help. She needed a place to stay. She could not withstand one more night on the floor. We picked up the phone. We called the shelters. Every bed was full. We called the city. There was nothing they could do.
With no other options left, and with our client facing another night on her back and in pain, Claude – our founder and Executive Director - called in a favor from some friends.
They came to our office right way and offered the woman a place in their own home. The woman agreed to stay with them until she could secure her own place.
Not everyone has the space to house people in need, but you can make a difference by providing people with a place to stay through ProsperityME. Your financial gift can give an immigrant family a place to call “home.” Please help an immigrant family “check-out” of a hotel or temporary shelter and help them move into an apartment in time for the holidays!
The work of ProsperityME has always been to help immigrant families to succeed. Over the last 15 years our focus has been to provide financial and educational support. We also respond to
urgent community needs. Today, that urgent community need is housing. The lack of stable
housing is a barrier to all other forms of economic security. ProsperityME wants to change that.