The Justice

Media Credit: Rachel Corke Voices of Soul was one of several Brandeis a cappella groups that performed at the Winter Gala last Saturday. The benefit raised money for the non-profit organization hopeFound.

Media Credit: Sara Brandenburg Aaron Mitchell Finegold '09, who planned the event, speaks to gala guests.

Media Credit: Sara Brandenburg Students participate in thesilent auction that raised money for the non-profit organization hopeFound.

The light murmur of a piano fills the space amid the sounds of people chatting and glasses clinking. Waiters and waitresses offer appetizers as a photographer greets guests adorned in cocktail dresses and suits.

Surrounded by the elegant decor of the Faculty club last Saturday, 200 guests gathered to help fight homelessness. The 2009 Winter Gala was held in support of the nonprofit organization hopeFound.

The event, which had a coat and tie dress code, raised $4000 for hopeFound, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless in the Boston area.

Aaron Mitchell Finegold '09 planned the event to raise awareness about homelessness in the Boston area. Finegold was inspired by hopeFound after learning of its work during his sophomore year at Brandeis.

"I was really impressed by the uniquely holistic approach that [hopeFound] take[s] to helping homeless people not only find emergency relief but also become self-sufficient," Finegold said.

Established in 1983, hopeFound is based in Jamaica Plain, Mass. and shelters more than 3,500 homeless adults in the greater Boston area.

The organization also offers ongoing services to more than 139 individuals who once were homeless. Specifically, hopeFound works to help the homeless become self sufficient and runs services based around recovery, employment and housing, said Barbara Shenker, hopeFound director of development.

Although the organization was initially a homeless emergency shelter, it has since become a more comprehensive agency.

"Quickly after establishing themselves as a shelter [hopeFound] realized that [although] that kind of service is necessary, there is so much more that the people who were visiting them at the shelter needed," Finegold said.

Finegold said that hopeFound realized they needed to help their clients learn how to live life independently.

"They needed help getting jobs, they needed help with stabilization [if they had] substance abuse problems," Finegold said.

Finegold began planning the event by approaching different clubs and departments on campus to request donations. He collaborated with Student Events, the Student Union, the Office of Communications, the Office of the Arts and the Social Justice and Social Policy program for help with finances, volunteers and auction items.

Finegold said that through the gala, he was "introducing Brandeis students to a cause that is right here [in Boston]. It's important because it's one more way that they can give back, … and it is my personal connection, which I'm sharing with the rest of the community."

The event included a silent auction, a raffle, a brief performance by Brandeis a cappella group Voices of Soul and a DVD presentation profiling several hopeFound clients who the organization interviewed about 16 months ago.

The individuals represented "the kind of familiar stories that we [often see]: largely men, many who came from backgrounds of poverty, substance abuse, long years on the street, lots of mental health issues," Shenker said.

However, Shenker told gala attendees that the average profile of a hopeFound client has recently changed.

"The changed stories we are hearing now are more related to people being laid off, people who have not been chronically homeless, people who are living from paycheck to paycheck. We haven't seen [that] in the past," she said.

Shenker spoke of the increase in demand for hopeFound services in the past year, especially from women. Women's demand for hopeFound services has increased by 51 percent.

In general, Shenker said, because of the nation's recent economic problems, the demands for emergency shelter have gone up 28 percent since September.

Jarred Fitterman '12 was impressed by the organization of the gala as well as the information he learned about hopeFound.

"I thought the atmosphere [at the Winter Gala] was classy, and people were truly interested in the cause," Fitterman said. "I learned a lot about the resources available for homeless people [through hopeFound]."

For Shenker, the goal of the event was to provide people with a better understanding of homelessness and hopeFound efforts to end it.

"I think homelessness is a national problem," she said. "It's never going to be solved by organizations; it really takes the involvement of everyone in the community."

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