There’s No Place Like Home

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Travelers logo and text: Travelers, There’s No Place Like Home

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Cars on the street at night and empty rooms.

[SPEECH] 
TAMRA RYAN: I think there are a lot of biases and prejudices around people experiencing homelessness, that they created the problem for themselves or they made bad decisions.

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GISELLE BURGESS: The man outside with the cardboard sign asking for money, people who've had drug problems, or people who've had gambling problems, all those stereotypes.

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MOLLY JALMA: People are closer to nothing than you have any idea of. We just don't talk about it.

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Homeless people looking into the camera.

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Drew Benton, Director of Community Engagement and Volunteer Services, Gateway Center

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DREW BENTON: Homelessness is not limited to a specific age bracket or a specific demographic for that matter.

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Anwar Willis 

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ANWAR WILLIS: I was homeless for eight years.

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Rayteisha Hernandez 

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RAYTEISHA HERNANDEZ: I had to stay in a hotel for a good three to four months.

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Melissa Maxwell 

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MELISSA MAXWELL: I've been homeless, in my car.

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Nichole Creed 

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NICHOLE CREED: I was living at a homeless shelter with my son.

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Photos of Giselle Burgess and her family. Homeless people looking into the camera.

[SPEECH] 
GISELLE BURGESS: My children and I lost our home. Trying to find a home in New York City with five kids, it's almost impossible. And then entering the shelter system and seeing that it's working families, it's survivors of domestic violence, it's working dads, working moms. Homelessness has many faces.

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Volunteers serving food. Volunteers dancing with young girl scouts. Volunteers packing food. Volunteers bringing furniture into a home. Volunteers helping with job search.

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Marlene Ibsen, VP, Community Relations, President, The Travelers Foundation

[SPEECH] 
MARLENE IBSEN: Housing insecurity is such a huge problem. And of course there's only so much that we can do as Travelers, but we've identified our different nonprofit partners that have great track records of doing that in their own communities, and we've created a range of volunteer activities around the country that all tie to different elements of housing insecurity from the initial need for immediate safe shelter, all the way to job training and having a steady income.

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Text: Journey Home, Hartford

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Volunteers brining furniture into a home.  Volunteers cleaning a home.

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Matthew Morgan, Executive Director, Journey Home 

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MATT MORGAN: Journey Home is a nonprofit to end homelessness, and our mission is to speed up the process for how quickly people get housed, and then we try to provide people with all the furniture, household goods, services that they need to never become homeless again in the future.

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Elaine Baisden, VP, Business Operations

[SPEECH] 
ELAINE BAISDEN: Today we're getting a home ready for a mom and her three kids to move in. So we're spending time cleaning, tidying it up, and making it just a great place for them to come back to.

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Scott Higgins, EVP & President, Middle Market National Property and BI Field

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SCOTT HIGGINS: It means so much to us to welcome this family into their home and into the community. This is just a reflection of a lot of things that we do, not just in Hartford, but around the country.

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Text: Gateway Center, Atlanta.

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Volunteers running a group meeting. Volunteers cutting hair. Volunteers packing food.

[SPEECH] 
DREW BENTON: Gateway Center is Atlanta City's response to homelessness in a singular location where people experiencing homelessness can find the resources necessary to get back to self-sufficiency.

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Text: Girl Scouts of Greater New York, New York City.

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Photo of Troop 6000. Girl scouts attending a group event. Girl scouts smiling at the camera.

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Giselle Burgess, Director, Troop 6000 

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GISELLE BURGESS: Having to be able to maintain a straight face and being strong and ensuring my children that everything was gonna be fine, was really difficult. I remember laying in the room with my kids and asking them, "What would you think if I started a Girl Scout troop here "in the shelter?" Troop 6,000 is a girl scouting troop that is made specifically for girls who are living in the New York City shelter system. We wanna make sure that all girls in New York City, regardless of where they're living, where they're coming from, where they're going, are having access to these opportunities.

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Girl scouts attending a group event. Girl scouts smiling at the camera.

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Meridith Maskara, CEO, Girl Scouts of Greater New York 

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MERIDETH MASKARA: Today's event is something that is so necessary for girls and volunteers and everyone in New York City. It is getting ready for anything and is focusing on mental health and wellbeing.

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GISELLE BURGESS: We have Girl Scouts that sometimes are just not comfortable with being here or maybe just don't understand what's going on in life right now and are just upset with the world and being able to connect with them and having that communication and building that trust together, that's what it's about.

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Text: Listening House, St. Paul.

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Exterior shot of Listening House. Guests and volunteers mingling inside.

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Molly Jalma, Executive Director, Listening House 

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MOLLY JALMA: Listening House is a resource center, a refuge site, a place for people to feel welcome. There has to be a place for people to be able to sit down and address, rest, and calm and their humanity and Listening House is that place.

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MELISSA MAXWELL: It's a lot of homeless people out there that can't be in one place or sleeping in bushes, fighting off the elements to the point where they only sleep when they're exhausted.

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Listening House guests eating, playing cards and smiling. Guests and volunteers mingling inside.

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Mary Margaret Jung Reagan-Montiel, Director of Operations, Listening House 

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MARY MARGARET JUNG REAGAN-MONTIEL: To have a place where not only can you sort of escape the elements, but also have a sense of community, a sense of belonging, everyone needs that.

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MELISSA MAXWELL: Mental stability is what it gives me. I'm not so overwhelmed. You're kind of able to sit down and concentrate on how do you change your situation.

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Aerial shots of Listening House. People waiting in line to get inside.  Volunteers serving food.

[SPEECH] 
MOLLY JALMA: For four or five years now, we've been located in the basement of First Lutheran Church, and we have lived that way, I guess, since the beginning for 40 years, it's been who's willing to allow us to be in their space to serve this mission, but we feel that we have to stop being as transient as the people we serve to make sure that there is consistently one place where people know the doors will be open.

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Volunteers cutting hair at Gateway Center. People inside Listening House.

[SPEECH] 
DREW BENTON: These are real people. They have real lives, they have real stories, they are worthy, they are of value. They have a purpose, and I think it's incumbent on us to try and assist our fellow brother, sister in finding that and exploring that for themselves.

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Anwar Willis walking on the sidewalk.

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ANWAR WILLIS: You don't wanna be out in the street. Anybody that want a life and anybody that want to stay alive, Listening House will save you.

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Exterior shots of Listening House’s new location. People eating and smiling inside Listening House.

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MOLLY JALMA: The relationship with Travelers and their ongoing support has been a key factor for us getting our own home and therefore guests having more stability. It will change the way services are brought to the people of St. Paul.

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Travelers volunteers smiling at the camera in front of a Girl Scouts sign.

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MERIDETH MASKARA: Without partners like Travelers, programs like Troop 6,000 would not be possible.

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Tom Coles, Unit Manager, Specialty Major Case 

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Tom Coles talks with a guest inside Listening House

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TOM COLES: You know, I live in the community, these folks, you know, for whatever reason, sorry, I'm choking up a little bit, but you know, I'm so incredibly fortunate. But if there's some way that I can help in the, just the little bit that we're here, that's the least that we can do.

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Melissa Maxwell talks with a Travelers volunteer at Listening house.

[SPEECH] 
MELISSA MAXWELL: It's just always nice to know that there's someone there that wants to hear your story, and I'm just glad for Travelers supporting this.

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Volunteers packing food.

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NICHOLE CREED: Having my own home has been amazing. Seeing how they believed in me helped me really believe in myself.

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Doormat unfurls revealing the words Welcome Home. Rayteisha Hernandez walking into her newly furnished home. Travelers volunteers clapping.

[SPEECH] 
RAYTEISHA HERNANDEZ: Walking into the new home and seeing everybody waiting for me and clapping, it was very exciting and overwhelm of happiness.

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Volunteers smiling at Listening House. Volunteers smiling at Rayteisha’s house. Shots of Travelers volunteers and Molly looking into the camera.

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MOLLY JALMA: Travelers is always in the room, and it makes it so easy to work together as we all care about the city. We all care about the people who live here, and for them to lead the way by saying, "Let's all just work together and do this." It's, I can't tell you how powerful that is.

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Anwar smiling at the camera.

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ANWAR WILLIS: I have a car, I have my own apartment. I'm working. They changed my life greatly.

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Girl scouts walking in the rain on the sidewalk with red Travelers umbrellas.

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GISELLE BURGESS: Troop 6,000 has brought a sense of belonging to the Girl Scouts by building that sisterhood that it goes beyond Girl Scouting.

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Melissa smiling at Listening House

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MELISSA MAXWELL: I am truly grateful beyond words that anyone who doesn't have a home can feel at home.

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