The Homeless Charities and Village "Raise the Roof" Event

     During the winter of 2022, SCFE was discussing with Lerryn Campbell, founder and executive director of The Homeless Charities and Village about the urgent need to fix their damaged roof.  A formerly condemned home, turned HUB for the homeless provides residence for two elderly, weekly warm meals, emergency supplies for the broken, and a repository for donated clothes for women and children.  Her passion for helping others began at an early age and she has dedicated her life to breaking the cycle of homelessness in Akron, Ohio.  She has served tens of thousands of meals over two decades of servitude and her impact is being noticed as she garners 4,000 followers on FB alone.  Today, water pours into the basement whenever it rains or the snow melts, disrupting her daily activities and putting her organization in jeopardy with the City.  With a limited operating budget that all goes to daily operations, Lerryn has yet to find a contractor to take on the job pro-bono, leaving her searching for a solution beyond hope and prayers.

     Through our Consultative DMM Conversation™, the solution became evident that Lerryn simply did not have the time or resources to pull off a fundraising event that could raise enough money to replace a roof for her century home.  With dozens of core stakeholders, thousands of and social media connections, and a network of other local charities that work together to share resources, there had to be a way to engage this group for help.  The key to success was creativity.  Lerryn and SCFE approached a local high end hotel/restaurant establishment (that is plagued by the same homeless issue that THCV is trying to solve) to host a charity dinner for her cause.  An initial conversation led to a Valentine’s Day meal specially designed for her top 30-40 stakeholders, including a night’s stay at the hotel.  Nothing is ever easy, the restaurant could host the party, accommodate the overnight guests, but the cost of beef has risen through the roof putting a ticket price out of reach.  Through SCFE’s procurement network, we produced a 60 day dry aged roast for the restaurant to purchase and cook for the event.