Please list service organizations and agencies you recommend

[OneGrassRoot]

I'm finally starting to compile a Resource Directory which I hope -- with a lot of help -- will become a comprehensive online directory for those who find themselves in need. Be it housing, food, health care, employment, counseling, and more.

I first learned of 211.org about six months ago and thought this was such a comprehensive resource for people to find all types of assistance. While I still recommend this organization (they're available 24/7 by phone) and hope to work with them in creating this comprehensive directory, I discovered that each network is very independent and there are no plans to create a "portal" where visitors can enter to find help.

It's the typical political red tape within large organizations, with each network vying for their independence; there are pros and cons to this, of course. Also, not all areas have a 211 network, and I've discovered some networks are MUCH better than others.

So, I'm hoping to gather this information as a community to create a portal of our own.

No doubt there are other websites which have compiled a list of organizations within certain focus areas, and if you can share those sites, as well as individual organizations you recommend, I'd be most grateful. I simply haven't found a truly comprehensive resource or portal, and would like to work towards creating that.

Thanks very much in advance.

:hi:

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Starting Points and the Free Clinic, both in Chippewa Falls, Wi

The organization was founded by an amazing woman named Mary Santineau, She has been fighting for the poor and homeless for decades, and created Starting Points about 15 years ago to provide transitional housing and resources to move people out of homelessness. "Transitional housing" is more than a homeless shelter; it involves putting people into apartments, helping them find jobs where appropriate, helping them negotiate the insane world of public assistance of various kinds.

Here's a story about their homeless shelter.

http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/70043062.html

The Chippewa Falls Free Clinic was created by a retired Army doctor named Tom Chisholm. Tom is also the leading light in the Chippewa Falls peace movement, and you can find him every Saturday morning, winter and summer standing on the same prominent street corner with a bunch of hardy co-conspirators and their antiwar signs. He's been doing this every damn Saturday since before the Iraq invasion.

I'll get you more contact information later. These are 2 organizations very high on our family list of places to "give to until it hurts." (Or maybe until it stops hurting.)

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Thanks much. :) n/t

[Sanity Claws]

3. womenslaw.org

This web site provides information to women facing abuse, including an overview of the law and safe places to go.
Here is a link to the part of the site that lists shelters by state, http://womenslaw.org/gethelp_type.php?type_name=State%20and%20Local%20Programs

I've updated their list of shelters on a volunteer basis a couple of years ago. They do a lot of good with little money.

[OneGrassRoot]

4. Awesomeness. Thanks! :) n/t

[I Have A Dream]

5. Kick. nt

[bemildred]

6. Any food bank.

Any non-casino-owning Indian tribe.

[OneGrassRoot]

7. I know there are websites that list all food banks....

so that's a GREAT addition, to include that portal website for food banks.

Thanks! :hi: