Room at the Inn hosting benefit banquet in support of pregnant homeless women in the Triad

Room at the Inn website

Room at the Inn has locations in Greensboro and Kernersville and they provide support for homeless pregnant mothers and for their children. Their annual benefit banquet is coming up on October 20th, and you can register for it here. At the banquet, you'll be able to hear stories from mothers they have helped, opportunities for getting involved, as well as learn from the keynote speaker, Melissa Ohden.

A little more from their website:

Mission Statement

Responding to the call of Christ to nurture life, Room At The Inn, operates housing and programs for single, pregnant women and single mothers with children suffering from homelessness offering them opportunities to have new lives of healthy, hope-filled independence.

Core Values

1. We respect the health, dignity and life of the mothers and the children, born and unborn, that we serve.
2. We have a preferential option for serving the poor and vulnerable.
3. We encourage and affirm the desires of the clients to have their families and significant others involved in their lives.
4. We recognize that diversity of stakeholders is a strength of our organization and seek to partner and collaborate with all people of faith and goodwill.
5. We seek to implement accepted best practices consistent with our values in all areas of the agency’s operations and service provision.
6. We understand that we are called to educate the community about the needs and contributions of the families we serve and to advocate on their behalf.

Room At The Inn, Inc. is an unique, comprehensive program helping homeless single pregnant women with or without previous children. Room at the Inn helps not only during pregnancies but also after the birth of their babies.

Recently I had a chance to connect with Marianne Donadio, the VP of Marketing and Development at Room at the Inn (RATI), to find out a little more about their organization and she answered some of my questions below.

How did you get involved with RATI?

• I was involved as a volunteer in the early days when RATI first formed but was offered a part-time job helping with fundraising back in 2011.

What are the biggest needs you have right now as an organization?

• We can always use more cash! Funds simply mean we can do more to help people in whatever way is most needed. However, we can certainly also always use all sorts of "stuff". For a complete list, you can check out our wishlist on our website. We can also use volunteers for a variety of tasks from sorting donations to help at the office and lots of other things. Just let us know you are interested in helping in this way and we will see what fits best for you.

What does your facility in Kernersville offer vs. the one in Greensboro?

• Our offices are located in Kernersville. We also have a house in Kernersville which is part of our Supportive Community Living program. This program houses women and children waiting to enter the maternity home after they have exited that program and before they move out on their own and if they are in our College Program. The College Program provides housing and childcare for a woman who has graduated from our maternity home and wants to complete her education. We are also in the early stages of planning a new facility in the Kernersville area that will include a childcare program, a thrift store and job training as well as other educational and support services. In Greensboro, we have our maternity home and Amy's House, which is also used as part of our Supportive Community Living Program.

How many women have you helped since RATI started and do you have to turn many women away due to capacity limits?

• We have helped roughly 400 women and children since we opened. We do have to turn some women away due to capacity limits, but we try to find help for them in some other way.

What's something you'd like the community to know about what you do?

• We simply try to meet the needs of pregnant women and their children who have nowhere to go. Our two primary goals are to help each mother to have a healthy birth and to find stable housing for her family. Along with material support we provide case-management, life skills classes, pregnancy and parenting education, transportation, child care and long-term help after a mother moves out on her own.

How can homeless women get in touch if they need your assistance?

• Call 336-275-9566 Monday - Thursday 9 am - 2 pm

If you wish to make a donation, you can do online or by phone. Stay connected via Facebook for their latest updates.