New Fund-Raising Place

If you have not noticed a new link or new channel to contribute to our mission is on the donation tab of our home page. paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2036616 We have earned a spot with PayPal to get funds via the PayPal Gift Giving Fund. For those of you who give every month and use our regular PayPal channel there is no need to change. But be sure the gift is directed to HPLA Charities. It is important to keep each of you updated on what we are doing with the donations we get. Our mission has been to give home repair to low-income homeowners to keep folks in their homes. We have been extremely successful in helping many elderly or physically challenged individuals stay in their homes and not go to nursing homes. Our government has made great strides in helping folks stay in their homes too by providing in home care by professionals or payments to relatives willing to take on the task of caring for a loved one in their own house. If you ever talk to someone who is terminally ill the one thing we always hear is, “I want to go home”. If you have not had anyone close to you in a health care facility and experienced that process you need to go see anyone who has no family and visit them. Maybe you can volunteer to read to a group or use your crafts skills to show how these folks can stay active and hopeful doing what you do. Knitting, singing, assembling puzzles, etc. I would dare say not one of them would not rather be home then there. So, keeping folks in their home is a benefit for everybody. Most importantly it is an advantage to the homeowner. It provides a safe place and relieves stress.

In our post we try to stay positive and encourage folks to share the wealth directly to those who are hurting or via trustworthy organizations who don’t absorb most of the donations to pay for overhead. In our eighth year HPLA has never had a paid staff. We do all we do with volunteer help and the monies we get goes directly to help our clients. Worst case we have bought drinks and snacks for our volunteers while they are working for us. This statement is made proudly because while many great organizations keep pets alive that have been abandoned or abused, they spend a tremendous amount of donations paying for air-conditioned building with first class accommodations for the managers and healthy payrolls. In all our years we have worked out of donated vehicles and use gifted tools. Donations are used to buy materials and supplies for the projects that we take on. Recently we bought over $200.00 for wood siding and for replacing wood rot for a couple who were cited by the county. The man is invalid and while the women is a nurse it takes all their income to pay for his care. With all the mandates given to keep a home operational sometimes it is the structure and the nuts and bolts of the home that goes without maintenance.

With the excessive heat we have had, cost of utilities has increased as well as the cost of all goods and services. To that point we have paid some utilities, bought groceries, replaced a hot water heater and did yard work. Recently we have tried to expand our service area to include another county. We now serve Wyandotte County & Sedgwick County in Kansas. Although we still try to help on the Missouri side of the Kansas City Metro the greatest good is done in Kansas. As an aside we have pointed out over the course of many success stories that it is the folks that have the least that proportionately give the most. If every multi-millionaire would sacrifice the cost of one adult beverage per week and send it to us, we stop every leak in everyone’s homes in both counties for years. That being said the cost of water is not only going through the roof, but it is getting scarce in Kansas as well as other parts of the country. In fact, on average a faucet dripping 10 drops a minute will waste a gallon of water a day. 120 drips will waste up to 11 gallons a day. Take that across 100 homes and it is easy to see how our services can help not only help our clients, but our communities’ resources. You make the difference and little issues like these is what we as charities, working in the trenches, bring to the table. Savings of money and resources. Each of you that are reading this post can honestly say you are struggling yourself, but the old adage of “I desperately needed shoes until I met a man with no feet”.

American’s salary is the second highest in the world only slightly less than Luxembourg where the average salary is approximately $78,000.00 per year. At the other end of the ranking is Mexico with annual average salaries of $16,685.00. You now know why any struggling family from Mexico would risk coming to America to work. Data suggests that even the illegals give a positive income to outgo while they are here. So, do we service “Dreamers” who are here illegally and have been for years? We don’t ask. Income status and homeownership is all we need to approve them. If the family falls below the poverty level established by The US department of Health & Human Services and own their home, they qualify for all the services we can offer. In our part of the world, we are the closest country to give Mexicans a better future. We are glad the US can give them sanctuary as the law allows. We are glad to help the families who sponsor these folks. Tax deductions for donations to charities may one day go away, but for now your donation will reduce your tax burden and save resources. Our wish is for all who live in this world to have their basic needs met and anyone living on the street is there because they want to be. At some point I hope HPLA will do more and go further out into the world, but for now we will do all we can for Kansas.