Dozens of resources were provided during the 9th annual “Project Homeless Connect” Friday

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The ninth annual project homeless connect event took place Friday morning. The event provided free services to homeless people across our area.

Services available included legal assistance, housing, and employment. And it took a team effort to get it done.

“It has built on itself and it continues to build on itself. And I think it’s because people see that there’s a lot of value with the community coming together for a visual act of kindness,” Housing First CEO Derek Boulware said.

Groups also handed out hygiene supplies and clothing. And ALEA was on hand to help with state-issued ID’s.

USA Health was also on hand for the ninth year in a row to assist.

“As for as USA goes, we coordinate the student activity and involvement in this event. It’s really important for them because there’s a lot of bias. A lot of people don’t know much about the homeless clients. It’s really important for them to see that they’re just people like us. They’re just on hard times,” Associate Professor Pam Johnson said.

And the response from those who benefit from this event makes it all worthwhile.

“If they have health problems, a lot of times they don’t trust the medical community. Maybe they had a bad experience. So we want to see friendly faces and to get the services they need,” Johnson said.

“Somebody will come up to me at some point and say I can’t tell you how much this has meant to me. I was able to get an ID. I could see an attorney and get some things sorted out. These are the kind of things that would not happen otherwise,” Boulware said.

Transportation was also provided to and from the event.

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