ALICE Awareness Week

Everyone knows ALICE - Many of us have been or are ALICE.

But you can do something to help.

Take part in ALICE Awareness Week, where you combine personal challenges, fundraising, advocacy and community conversations to help your neighbors. It is about harnessing the power of our community to make a difference. By stepping up to support ALICE, we can change the life of our neighbors.

Harness the power of your personal network to drive online donations, with funding collected going back to programs supporting our community’s ALICE population, helping working families move out of their cars and cramped motel rooms and into stable homes this holiday season. Every cent collected makes a world of difference to ALICE. .

We challenge you for five consecutive days (Nov. 4-8) to change your living situation to mirror the struggles in our area’s ALICE population.

Our neighbors are making tough choices just to get by. Choices between food and gas, paying bills and or supporting their family's vital needs, choices like picking between running water and electricity. Have you ever made a tough choice? Have you ever gone without?

Take on an ALICE Challenge and raise awareness of what more than 40% of people are going through every day. Challenges include living off an ALICE $5.45 food budget a day, limiting your clothing to one outfit for an entire week, or finding alternative transportation through carpooling and public transportation for a week. Participants can also create their own challenge, like giving up their laundry appliances and using the laundromat for a week, like many ALICE families do. Take a look at the ALICE report for your area to see the ALICE budget for your necessities.

TAKE ON AN ALICE AWARENESS WEEK CHALLENGE!

Step 1) Pick a Challenge

Step 2) Let your friends, family and coworkers know what you are doing and why! Share and post about your experience to raise awareness about ALICE, using the hashtag #ALICEAwarenessWeek

Step 4) Use your challenge experiences to drive donations towards your fundraising goal

Ready to start fundraising?

There’s a hidden homeless population in our community who needs your help. By taking on an ALICE Awareness Week Challenge and fundraising to meet your goal, you can help working families move out of their cars and cramped motel rooms. You can help Valley Assistance Network help more people. You can give a neighbor a hand up from their situation.

Step 1) Register now! Set up your own fundraising page to register as a participant, get looped in on events, and start fundraising!

Step 2) Set your fundraising goal! (see below for some inspiration)

Step 3) Share your fundraising page with your friends, coworkers, and family to reach your goal!

Use this link to setup a fundraiser on Facebook for United Way!

Need ideas for your goal? Take a look at the ALICE Budget and average costs seen at VAN

$78 Secure transportation for a working person for a month

$300 Application fees to get 10 families into housing

$419 the average cost for VAN to help one family move from crisis to stability

$630 Keep a family fed and supply an infant with formula for a month

$958 the fair market rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in Winchester/Frederick County

$1,445 the average monthly income for a family served by VAN

$1,500 Get a local family into a home

The more you raise, the more help we can give!

So how do you raise this money anyhow?

1) Social media! Let your friends and followers know what you are doing! Share your fundraing page and encourage your friends to donate to help you reach your goal!

2) Emails/snail mail/messages! Send word to your friends and family about your mission!

3) In person! Tell your friends, coworkers, and the folks you see every day about ALICE! Once you have their interest, share your giving link or recruit them to create their own fundraising page!