Building Better Communities Luncheon

Inaugural event celebrates success stories, raises funds to support expansion of services in Southern Indiana

Mark Maxwell, of Maxwell's House of Music, provided the musical Moment for Mission at the luncheon, with friend Judy Atkins, who we support in our Developmental Disability Services Program.

Nearly 200 guests joined us at 300 Spring Street in Jeffersonville, IN for our inaugural Building Better Communities Luncheon on March 2nd to hear about the successes of people we have served and our future plans for serving veterans and individuals in the community facing the challenges of homelessness, addiction, HIV and developmental disabilities. Because of the support of our generous guests and sponsors, we are poised and ready to serve even more individuals and families in Southern Indiana.

U.S. Army veteran, Judy Glore-Calloway shared her moving story of surviving homelessness. Volunteers of America provided Judy and her son with housing and supportive services to help them re-stabilize and return to their own affordable housing.

Judy stated that "my story and life circumstances are unique but the challenges that I faced as a veteran are unfortunately not unique. There are hundreds of veterans right here in Southern Indiana and across the bridge in Louisville that are not making ends meet. They struggle transitioning back into civilian life. They struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder and other medical issues. They struggle to find a good paying job. They struggle to provide for their families—whose needs are no different than the needs of my family or yours. They are veterans just like me. They are families just like mine. They are families just like yours."

Jennifer Hancock, President and CEO of Volunteers of America Mid-States, expressed to guests that our work of providing HIV Prevention services, housing and re-stabilization services to veterans and their families and support services for adults with developmental disabilities in Southern Indiana are critical.

"We step forward to build an even better community for all of the 300 people we served here last year who, without our support, would not be thriving and living healthy, engaged lives like they are today." Jennifer also noted a great demand for additional programs such as addiction recovery and homeless and housing services for families. "Volunteers of America is highly collaborative and eager to be a part of the solution. I believe we are in a unique position to bring our data-driven programming and outcomes focus to the table."

Bruce Holland, owner of Videotech Computer Services in New Albany and the father of James Holland who we support in our Developmental Disability Services Program, invited guests to personally invest in Volunteers of America. "When I think about today's theme, 'Building Better Communities,' I am called to act. And I am here to ask you to join me." Bruce continued, "Volunteers of America knows they cannot do this work alone. It is going to take the entire community to build a better place for James, Judy and the thousands of people impacted by HIV, addiction and homelessness. And it is going to take each and every one of us to make a difference."