Arden Arcade HART (Homeless Area Resource Team) is a 501(c)3 non-profit operated by volunteers from 20 faith communities and organizations in the Arden Arcade area. Unlike efforts that respond to the needs of the poor in our community, HART focuses its attention on those who live with the added challenges of homelessness. Under these conditions, one’s ability to engage in the daily tasks of maintaining cleanliness and eating regularly is increasingly uncertain. One’s ability to access community resources is limited by the need to be near one’s belongings and/or lack of transportation. Added to these difficulties is the social perception of being viewed as problem people who detract from the efforts of community merchants trying to make a living. Beyond those we see on our streets, the San Juan Unified District has between 700 and 800 elementary and high school students with unstable housing, whose opportunities for achievement are overshadowed by the constant variability in their living conditions. In response to these needs, HART volunteers engaged in the following activities in the Arden Arcade area this past year: 14,500 meals, 1,600 snack bags, and 1,020 hygiene kits for our unhoused individuals, as well as distributing
tents, tarps, blankets, and clothing. We continue our monthly preparation and delivery of 50 snack and 50 hygiene kits for our housing-challenged students in San Juan Unified School District. As of January 2025, we are serving our guests at St. Mark's Grace Cafe at our second Saturday Respite Center, a collaboration between Arden Arcade HART and St. Mark's Mercy Pedalers. We would love to add another day of the month to at our respite center and have other locations join us in this most needed outreach.
The Mission of Arden Arcade HART Corporation:
Charitable activities that serve a public interest. We provide resources and relief for the poor and marginalized by assisting people experiencing homelessness in becoming independent and self-sustaining. We develop organic, humane, and long-term solutions to lessen neighborhood tensions, combat community deterioration, and promote social welfare. We provide resources to decrease the number of people experiencing homelessness and the negative consequences of a large homeless presence in the community. We assist unhoused individuals with obtaining services and in turn reducing the need for police and other government agency intervention.
We presently need board members, with strong skill sets, to help carry our message to the community as well as funds to help supply needed materials and food for the unhoused members of the Arden Arcade community.
Your in-kind and monetary donations sustain our work with our unhoused sisters and brothers, our Mckinney Vento Elementary and High School Students in the San Juan Unified School District, and our guests at our Second Saturday Respite Center at St. Marks Grace Cafe where we host a hot breakfast, take away yummy lunches, and free showers. The Cafe doesn't have AC at present.
Families, Individuals, Faith Communities, and businesses:
Please consider signing up for a month to provide in-kind or monetary donations for snack and hygiene bags for MKV Students. Consider having a neighborhood or business food, clothing tents, sleeping bags etc drive for our unhoused sisters and brothers.
Arden Arcade HART is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion and strives to be a role model in the community. In our daily work as volunteers representing many faith communities and business organizations and in partnership with other non-profits and organizations, we reach out to all our unhoused sisters and brothers and our housing-challenged students in our Arden Arcade Neighborhoods.
The Story
When asked, “What would be the single most important mission in preventing homelessness?”, a Community Health worker replied, “support our children and families who are currently experiencing insecure housing”.
This last year Arden Arcade HART took on the goal of supporting McKinney -Vento services in San Juan Unified School District. MKV Program School Community Workers are advocates for students, meeting regularly to check in with them to support their educational, transportation and social needs. Eight hundred and thirty K-8 students from 19 schools in the district were identified by indicators of need. There may not be another meal that day after school. Personal supplies may not be available or they don’t have the ability to store needed items because they move around frequently.
HART volunteers gather supplies to fill 50 snack bags and 50 hygiene kits designed for elementary and high school students. Our goal is to provide these kits once a month to be distributed throughout the district by McKinney-Vento and school staff. In addition to time spent with an advisor students can anticipate receiving something that says, “I understand”, “We care.”
“Their faces light up!” said one School Community Worker. “It may just be an ice breaker, a little something special and one adult to help them feel safe.”
Arden Arcade HART relies completely on donations to support the adults unhoused in our neighborhood, provide food for our elementary students and appropriate personal care items for teens, such as shampoo, deodorant, or a pair of socks. The Big Day of Giving will assist Arden Arcade HART’s work in serving a greater number of our sisters and brothers in encampments, our McKinney-Vento Students, and our guests (individuals and families) at our Second Saturday Respite Center. These efforts encourage and help to nourish dignity and self-esteem and prevent homelessness in the future.
Organization name
Arden Arcade HART
2020
Tax id (EIN)
84-2361438
Mission Category
Human Services
Operating Budget
$0-$50,000
Organization Need
Funding: Unrestricted, Board Members
Demographics Served
General population
Local Counties Served
Sacramento
Address
3575 Arden Way, PMB 306Arden-Arcade, CA, US
Phone
916-719-0382