Deborah’s Place is proud to once again team up with homelessness organizations across the state for Hope for Homes Day: a statewide day of giving to help ensure every Illinoisan has a safe place to call home.
This year, we’re shining a light on the invisibility of women’s homelessness. See below or check out our Hope for Homes Day website to learn more. Gifts will be accepted there starting at 12:00AM on Thursday, July 16th—but you’re also welcome to give early using the form on this page.
What percentage of people experiencing homelessness are women?
Estimates range from 33-38%. That’s a broad range partly because women often try to hide their homelessness—to protect themselves, or to protect their loved ones.
Like Nikki, a Deborah’s Place participant who didn’t tell her family or coworkers that she was homeless for an entire year. She kept showing up to work and going “home” to sleep in an abandoned, decaying building at night, with no one the wiser. “I didn’t want people to worry about me,” she says.
Now, Nikki sleeps in a safe, clean one-bedroom apartment, and hopes that sharing her story helps other women attain safety and stability. “Deborah’s Place helped me so much—now I want to help other people.”
Women’s homelessness matters, and we won’t let women like Nikki be forgotten.
Right now, organizations like Deborah’s Place are fending off constant threats to our programs—threats to our participants’ futures. They need your support now more than ever.
On Hope for Homes Day, we’re asking you to make a gift of $38.33 in honor of every woman who faces homelessness without anyone knowing her story.
Our goal is that once a woman comes to Deborah’s Place she will never be homeless again. That means that our commitment to her is a lasting one—it follows her beyond the walls of Deborah’s Place, to wherever she next calls home. She’s never helpless, because she’s always part of our community.