7/22/07 Another GREAT link from ELAINE!!!
TRAVELERS AID
From their site:
"In the 21st Century, more people are traveling than ever before. Many are tethered to their support systems via credit cards, debit cards, cell phones or calling cards. An interruption to their travels is an inconvenience, but with money to spend and a reassuring call back home they can make the best of it. Such is not the case with people who live on the financial edge or when crime robs them of their identity and their resources. Traveling can be stressful under the best of circumstances, but an interrupted trip or an emergency is a crisis for the people involved, and Travelers Aid is there to help. Travelers Aid is most visible in transportation centers-the nation's busiest airports, as well as bus and train stations-where each year four million people seek information or assistance. Every situation is unique: A diabetic person has an unanticipated delay in his journey and realizes he needs medicine; a pre-paid phone card from Travelers Aid enables a teenager to contact her parents; a woman who can't speak English turns to Travelers Aid for help in contacting her family. Travelers Aid volunteers-more than 2400-provide reassurance as well as the information necessary for travelers to make informed decisions. Travelers Aid assists elderly and disabled persons, and anyone who needs extra attention to make their connections.
Professional Skills and Urban Connections
When persons become stranded, professional counselors step in to offer assistance. They engage the client and his or her family in the process of developing a plan that brings an end to the crisis and ensures a safe return "home." Travelers Aid has earned its motto of a "helping hand along the way." Travelers Aid began in the nation's largest cities and at its busiest crossroads. Primarily an urban phenomenon, Travelers Aid today serves metropolitan areas with a total population of 110 million. Travelers Aid is part of the fabric of social service agencies that respond to the needy. Homeless, and others, who feel disconnected in their own community, reach out to Travelers Aid. Whether through a local network referral process, or with specific programs geared to provide shelter and food, or training and support, Travelers Aid helps clients make the transition from crisis to independence. Examples include helping victims of domestic violence escape the trauma and get to a safe environment, aiding newly employed workers with local transit tickets, providing transitional housing, and serving as an advocate to ensure the needy get the services they require.
A Continuing Benefit
Travelers Aid has a rich history spanning three centuries, and diverse programming designed to meet the needs of stranded and disconnected people in each of its member communities. Although modes of transportation have changed over the years, the needs of travelers and disconnected persons have not. Today, mobility is crucial to the economy and to the American spirit of freedom and independence. The complexities of modern life make Travelers Aid more valuable today-and for more people-than when it first began.Travelers Aid International, based in Washington, D.C. is the national association for Travelers Aid agencies across the country. Supporting the Travelers Aid mission, TAI provides a myriad of services and assistance to member organizations in local communities nationwide, and also directly administers local programs. Travelers Aid International supports and assists its members by:
- Encouraging corporate support for local program needs
- Monitoring legislation
- Providing educational opportunities for program staff
- Enhancing information exchange through newsletters, and the Web site
- Providing technical assistance
- Supporting the establishment of new Travelers Aid programs
- Standards for inter-city transportation
An active Board of Directors is drawn from member agencies, corporations, transportation-related organizations and associations, and those concerned with the provision of social services. TAI staff and the Board work together to safeguard and expand our core objective of directly aiding those disconnected from their support systems, in crisis, or in transition"
