As a contributor to Horizon House, you recognize the vital work we do and what it means for our neighbors and our community. Today, thanks to your support, Horizon House is serving more of our neighbors and receiving positive attention for our efforts. But the steady rise in the need for our services – including providing emergency shelter in winter – is straining our resources even as government funding continues to decline.

I’m writing to ask you to help provide the sustainable funding we need at this critical time. Let me tell a story that puts a human face on our situation.

On six dangerously cold nights in February, we were commissioned by Homeland Security as an emergency overnight shelter. On one of those nights, Mike was brought to Horizon House by outreach workers. When he came in from his camp along the river, Mike’s face was bright red from the cold while his fingers were turning black from potential frostbite. He was able to get out of the harsh cold, have a warm place to recover, eat a hot meal and then take a shower. Outreach workers knew it was a long shot that Mike would spend the night, because he never went to any shelters. But that night, Mike trusted us enough to stay with us. He stayed safe. He stayed alive.

Horizon House is honored to extend our normal range of services to help our neighbors in an emergency like this, but it places additional demands on our staff, facility, and financial resources. Our budget is already strained as we are serving 23% more neighbors annually – nearly 3,400 homeless neighbors this year – and the demand continues to grow. While government funding is increasingly focused on housing, Horizon House must continue to offer the critical support services that have always been central to our mission.

With your generous support, we can and will continue to meet this challenge. We need your commitment to ensure that Horizon House will always be here to save lives and to meet the needs of our neighbors as they work to overcome barriers and end their homelessness.

To provide the sustainable funding we need, I’m asking you to respond to our "Hope is on the Horizon" Annual Fund with a generous three-year commitment. If it is not possible to make such a pledge, please consider an immediate, one-time gift.

Please respond today.

Together we can make a real impact on homelessness in Indianapolis, and a real difference for our homeless neighbors. 

Sincerely,

Teresa Wessel

Executive Director