"Real Change Not Spare Change"

Dear City Council Member,

“Real Change Not Spare Change”

As people of faith, we are hopeful that the Alternative Giving campaign (beginning March 2010) will provide greater generosity from faith communities, increased awareness about the plight of those who are homeless, and more compassion and dignity for those who are currently living on the streets. We fundamentally believe that permanent housing with services for all those who are chronically homeless remains the most proven, compassionate, and cost effective solution. Until this goal is met, however, we believe that by promoting alternative giving we can provide a wonderful opportunity for a shared sense of responsibility and mutual accountability that meets people’s needs while promoting compassion, mercy and justice that makes the best use of our desperately needed resources.

We encourage you to promote the following goals associated with the campaign that we are communicating to our faith communities:

Give generously to those in need. Each year more than 6,300 people experience homelessness within Santa Barbara County. On any given night, over 4,000 people are homeless. We believe that we can alleviate this problem by being compassionate and strategic in our giving.
Give good gifts that promote real change. A fundamental premise of the Alternative Giving campaign is to encourage everyone in the community to provide gifts that won’t promote a life of dependency on the streets. We are encouraging everyone to give creatively: hygiene related items, clothes, shoes, pre-packaged foods, and bottled water not to mention equally important gifts like time, compassion, and a listening ear.
Redirect giving to helpful hands. We continue to affirm the importance of social service providers who remain on the “front-lines” and an important bridge between the needs of those who are homeless and the resources required to meet those needs. These workers represent the best means of helping people off the streets and into more permanent housing.
Get involved. We are encouraging all of the Santa Barbara faith communities to explore further, ways in which they can personally address the problem of homelessness. In the next few months, we invite you to explore with us the plan in more detail, as well as other related efforts: creating alternative food distribution locations to lessen the impact on particular neighborhoods and the need for greater funding to provide a volunteer coordinator at Casa Esperanza and more outreach staff who can serve the mentally ill on our streets.
Educate and empower yourself and others for systemic change. We truly support the city’s efforts to make a difference. We commit to collaborate with you in this effort and to keep everyone accountable to the purpose of the campaign – “real change.”

We are excited to join you in this new giving campaign. We urge everyone to give – compassionately, generously, and strategically. We promise it will be worth it – people always are.

With Humble Hearts,


CLUE Homeless Sub Committee:
Dr. Jon Lemmond, Pastor for Gospel Action, Montecito Covenant Church
Maureen Earls, Facilitator, Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation, St. Barbara’s Parish
Dr. Wayne Mellinger, Social Worker for WillBridge & CLUE Board Member