House Manager Report - May 3, 2018

1.     Client Statistics – So far in 2018, we served 845 families (units).  Of this total number, 51 are returnees.  So, we have served 794 unique families. We have served 1,181 adults and 1,114 children.  Of the 794 unique families served, 246 were first-time clients or 31%.  55% are from Ypsilanti, 37% from Ann Arbor, 8% from other areas.

2.     Saturdays – We had only 1 client on our April Saturday.  However, we got a lot of cleaning done.  Our next Saturday is May 5, 2018. 

3.     Volunteers – We currently have 33 regular volunteers.  We have two new volunteers – Mary P. and Mary L.  We have 2 volunteers off with health issues. Sue D. and Pam V.  Both are out of the hospital and recovering well.

We had a well-attended volunteer meeting on April 12th.  Susan Stackpole led the 19 volunteers attending in a discussion about issues with clients and donors and shared experiences about frustrations and successes.  It apparently went well.  After that we spent another hour on questions and procedures – more good ideas about how to be consistent across the days with different people doing the same jobs.

4.     Donation Status –

What we need:

·        New socks and underwear for men, women, and children.

·        Pots and pans.

·        Sheets, towels, blankets

·        Backpacks

·        Plus size women’s clothes

In general, we are almost overwhelmed with donations.  We think we are getting much more than we got at this time last year.  But we are managing.

5.     Business/Community Contacts –

·        Washtenaw Community College donated 2 TVs to us

·        The VA Hospital sends people who want to donate clothes for vets to us.

6.     Community Outreach –

7.     Facility Status –

·        Bob Ufer’s contractor came to estimate what it would take to fix the entry, bathroom and add an awning.  I will contact him about a sign to direct donors to the proper place.

·        We had an alarm go off (May 3rd) just as we were opening at 10:00.  We escorted everyone out of the building, even though we didn’t think it was real.  It turns out there is some security device we knew nothing about that went off.  It was NOT the fire alarm.  I have called our landlord to find out what it is supposed to do and why the alarm went off.  Fresh Start knew how to turn it off.  We did not!

·        We need to do vacuum cleaner training for the volunteers (like “check the bag before running the vacuum cleaner”).  Apparently a bag burst when vacuuming.

·        We had a humorous miscommunication between two volunteers.  Flossie had asked that a cartload (6 tubs) of summer clothes be brought in from the garage.  The enthusiastic volunteer came at 9 am before Flossie arrived and removed ALL the tubs from the garage (about 40) and had them on the back dock.  Flossie asked some of the clients to help take the tubs back to the garage.

8.     Safety Issues – There has been a suggestion that we install the first aid kit in a more visible place.

9.     Areas that need attention –

·        Documenting procedures – I have completed the client check-in procedure.

·        Training volunteers – our 2 new volunteers have been trained more thoroughly

10. Client Stories –

11.Overall Appearance and Organization – All continues to go well.

12.Computer plans – The person working on computerizing our check-in procedure says he has about 1 hour worth of work left to do.  I hope he finds the time to finish it!

13.Issues –

·        Language barriers – Jean Bush-Bacelis is following up on a program that will do live translating.  This is an area where we need an internet connection for the service to work.