PRESS RELEASE

Date:                      12/17/2015

Contact:                Jeremy Parton, Executive Director

Address:             See Below

Telephone:         828 246 0332

Haywood Pathways Center, Inc. is pleased and gratified to announce receipt of a grant award from Evergreen Foundation, 28A Oak Street, Waynesville, NC 28786.  The grant of $31,140 was approved by Evergreen’s Board of Directors on December 11, 2015.

Haywood Pathways Center has been operational for one year.  During its initial year of operation, HPC served 353 homeless men and women, provided 8,250 nights of housing, served 13,867 meals while coaching and supporting its guest to find work and housing.  81 HPC guests have moved on to independent living while 41 have been reunited with families.  And, most importantly, 16 guests have found salvation.

Evergreen Foundation’s grant will enable Haywood Pathways Center to expand its services and implement Phase 1 of a strategy to address the emergency housing needs of homeless families in Haywood County.   Grant funds will be used for 1) emergency housing costs, and 2) hiring of a full time Clinical Case Worker to support the needs of homeless families.

The Evergreen Foundation was formed in 1977 as a separate not-for-profit company by the Board of Smoky Mountain Mental Health. The purpose of the Foundation was to provide a place to hold funds that could later provide financial support of their mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse services. In keeping with that purpose, the Foundation continues to provide this same support to the private service providers now responsible for all of the behavioral health, intellectual/developmental disability and substance abuse services in the seven western counties of North Carolina.