Our Commitment to Our Mission During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Christine Simiriglia

Dear Friends,

In an effort to preserve safety for our participants, volunteers and staff, Pathways to Housing PA will be operating with rotated limited staff in our offices, limited work in the community, and with staff also working from home, effective immediately. Participant Drop-in hours will be from 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM Monday – Friday, and we are asking anyone with symptoms to refrain from visiting our office and contact us by phone instead. These measures will be in effect until further notice.

Pathways participants are among the more vulnerable to illnesses in our community, and, as always, they are our top priority. In order to protect their health and safety, we have implemented the following procedures:

Participants who visit the office will be evaluated for symptoms upon arrival and connected with our clinic immediately if they have medical concerns.
Our most vulnerable participants will receive in person visits from staff to deliver essentials and ensure they’re taking the proper safety precautions. All other participants will be contacted by phone regularly to evaluate needs and provide safety information.
The Philadelphia Furniture Bank will continue operations with additional cleaning and safety procedures in place; we do not want lack of furniture to be the reason someone remains homeless during this precarious time.
Our office has instituted additional cleaning and safety procedures designed to keep participants and staff healthy, including regular sanitization and limiting the number of staff present in the office at any given time.

As we move into the next few months dealing with COVID-19, we will need assistance with securing supplies. Our regular vendors are out of stock for at least 4 weeks for many of the essential items we require now. Please consider making a monetary donation, or delivering the following supplies to our office directly at 5201 Old York Road, 4^th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19141, to help us keep up with the demand:

Hand sanitizer	Apple Sauce
Disinfectant Wipes	Pasta Sauce
Spray Disinfectant Cleaner	Tuna
Latex Gloves	Corned Beef Hash
Surgical Masks	Spam
Paper Towels	Dish Washing Sponges
Frozen Meals	Dish Washing Liquid
Canned Goods	Drawstring Trash Bags
Bread	Toilet Paper
Peanut Butter	Hand Soap
Jelly or Jam	Clorox SOS Pads
Instant Potatoes and Rice	Toothpaste
Pasta	Toothbrushes
Oatmeal	Body Soap
Cereal	Feminine Hygiene Products

We strongly recommend that all of our participants, volunteers, and staff closely follow the recommendations from the CDC:

Wash your hands regularly. Be sure to use plenty of soap and water and wash for at least 20 seconds each time.
If you cough or sneeze, please use a tissue or your elbow to cover your nose and mouth.
If you are sick, stay home and seek appropriate medical care.
Practice social distancing, which means you are reducing close contact with other people to slow the spread of infections or diseases. Social distancing measures include limiting groups of 10 or more people, avoiding unnecessary recreational activities that put you in close contact with people, and staying at home as much as possible. If you need to leave home, maintain at least six foot distance from other people. Try to limit communications to phone, email, video chatting, or text messages.

We recognize that this is a challenging time for everyone, and we encourage you to do everything you can to promote safety for yourselves and those in your networks. For information from the City, please use the City of Philadelphia COVID-19 Public Hotline: 1-800-722-7112.

Remember, We all have the capacity to be someone’s hero and in the next few months, that could mean the difference between life and death. Let’s not isolate ourselves to the point where we’re not helping others and remember the opportunity for kindness I wrote about for Generocity this week.

Please feel free to contact our staff at 215-590-1500 with any questions or concerns, and especially if you need help to access care.

Warmly,