HOM Visits Rainbow Place

This January the Hearts were thrilled to visit Rainbow Place for our third consecutive year.  "The mission of Rainbow Place is to provide emergency overnight shelter to women experiencing homelessness during the winter months as well as whatever support is needed to enable them to transition from homelessness to a more stable and self sufficient quality of life." (taken from their website: http://www.rainbowplace.org/aboutRainbow)

Each holiday season the Hearts collect donations from within the chorus to purchase gift cards that we present to the shelter at our annual visit.  The shelter staff uses these gift cards to buy supplies needed for the shelter as well as giving residents gift cards to local restaurants so they have more independence and a warm place to go for a good meal during the day.  Several of the Hearts also volunteer at the shelter cooking up big dinners for the group - often a team effort!

But what we enjoy most is performing for the shelter residents and the opportunity to meet them and spend time with them following the performance.  Music can reach people in so many ways.  It touches our hearts that we can bring joy to others through song.  It is our hope that we brighten their day even close to as much as visiting them brightens ours.  One of our members mentioned that prior to the performance she had been having a terrible day, but performing at Rainbow Place was exactly what she needed to turn her day around.  To see the smiles.  To catch a few people singing along.  It's such a rewarding experience.

We encourage you to visit the shelter website above to see if you can find a way to help them out!  They list items needed for donation regularly, and if you are interested in volunteering, we're sure they'd love to hear from you.