S3 Housing Connect’s June 21st meeting was quite a treat. Terry Allebaugh, our consultant from the North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness, gave a presentation on keeping our mojo working as a task force.
Terry started his presentation by standing up and playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” on harmonica. This was a real surprise, as none of us knew he could play that instrument! The display of his talent was awesome and attendees in the room appeared moved by his rendition of the song. After his phenomenal performance he started his talk by saying that instead of hearing “when the saints go marching in”, he hears “when the saints go marching home”. He continued by saying that if you have the opportunity to see people who have been homeless find a new home it is a wonderful experience. Those people are the true saints heading home. Seeing this happen gets in your heart, and Terry believes it has gotten in the hearts of Sanford’s people. Every time Terry leaves Sanford he feels revitalized, and he said he is so captivated by how we’ve taken up the cause for homelessness.S3 Housing Connect is maintaining its energy, and it’s because we’ve tapped into a shared passion. A few things that have driven us and created shared value include Outreach Mission and their courage to forego the status quo, struggles such as learning coordinated entry, energy like at the Service Provider Breakfast, the mayor staying involved and helping with fundraising, the Extreme Weather Shelter working hard to open in a new season, and finding funding from the city, county and state. All of this happened because we spoke up for our shared value. Terry ended the presentation by encouraging everyone to continue coming to meetings and to keep working so more “saints marching home” can be experienced by all. Always “Keep the Mojo Working” because there is so much good energy in this initiative. With that, “Got My Mojo Working” by Etta James was played as the meeting adjourned.
This was a revitalizing and rejuvenating meeting for members of S3 Housing Connect. With mojo on everyone’s minds it’ll be awesome to see what all S3 accomplishes over the next few months!
To watch Terry’s harmonica performance, click here.
