PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Nomad Alliance
Kseniya Kniazeva
801-688-3197
RELEASE DATE:
5-26-2021
NOMAD ALLIANCE AND MATT LEHNARDT TO GIFT TINY HOME TO UNSHELTERED PREGNANT WOMAN CARRYING TWINS
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, MAY — The Nomad Alliance, a nonprofit serving the unsheltered, has teamed up with Matt Lenhardt of First Step Shelters to gift a tiny house on wheels to Channi, an unsheltered woman five months pregnant with twins, today, Thursday, May 27th at 6:30pm under the overpass on 500 s and 600 w.
Homelessness has become an increasingly desperate, prevalent and visible issue in Salt Lake City and elsewhere, with tent cities erupting in cities all across the nation. But a tent has no lock, no ability to keep oneself or one’s possessions safe, no insulation or true protection from the elements. But the Nomad Alliance has come armed with a solution by partnering with contractor Mark Lenhardt who has been building tiny wheeled shelters for the homeless. This is his third delivered, and fourth built, with more on the way!
The Nomad Alliance aims to give security, stability and protection by focusing on providing micro homes on wheels to the most vulnerable of our unsheltered, the women, especially those pregnant like Channi. Women with whom the nonprofit work have reported masked men coming into their tent to assault and violate them all too often.
While the nonprofit is still working on securing land for a permanent tiny home village, these shelters will replace flimsy tents without taking much more space on our streets. They will be easier for activists to move, and reduce the stress of nomads forced to pack and relocate in advance of abatements.
Channi has been part of the Nomad Alliance workshop and detox program for a month and a half now. With the help of our detox kits full of vitamins, supplements, herbs, snacks and hydration and regular check ins with our team and the emotional support our workshops provide, Channi has detoxed and been completely clean off heroin for a month and a half!
“[The gift of this tiny home] makes me feel hope for the first time. It makes me believe there is still a possibility for a better future for the first time in years. I feel like I might be able to become stable and begin to build a better tomorrow which I didn’t think was something that was possible for me anymore,” Channi says, tearing up.
“I stopped to help a homeless man and the little I helped made such a difference but he was still sleeping on tarps, so I asked if he’d like a shelter on wheels he could sleep inside of and lock his stuff in and he loved it. His neighbors said it was perfect and all wanted one, and it’s made a difference in his life to have a secure shelter but what changes their situation is a support living environment like LIHI in Seattle or Community First in Austin, TX,” Matt said when asked why he began building portable shelters for those living on the streets.
For more information please visit the nomadalliance.org or join our fb group Nomad Alliance.
[We look forward to seeing you today, Thursday May 27th, at 6:30pm at the camp under the freeway overpass on 500 S 600 W]
(Photos taken by Robin Pendergrast at Press Event and Tiny Home Gifting)
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