On Friday, May 9, from 9 a.m.–3 p.m., more than 800 University of Denver students, faculty and staff will work one-on-one with homeless individuals at Project Homeless Connect 6 (PHC 6), a one-day event at DU’s Ritchie Center.
PHC 6, a partnership between DU, Denver’s Road Home and the Mile High United Way, serves as a one-stop shop connecting homeless individuals to needed services, including employment, housing, health care, legal resources, IDs, Social Security and food-stamp benefits. More than 60 organizations from the Denver area will be present to provide these services.
Homeless clients will be bussed to the Ritchie Center from area shelters. This year, busses will bring clients to DU on a staggered schedule and return them to the pickup location in the afternoon.
Volunteer check-in will begin at 8 a.m. on the north side of the Ritchie Center, just outside of the doors to the lower entrance. All volunteers, including those who have completed the volunteer training session, will need to check-in. Second shift volunteers will check in at 9:30 a.m.
Volunteers who missed the training will need to check in at 8 a.m. to receive training materials and their T-shirt.
Individuals who have volunteered for the 10:30 a.m. “on-call” client support services shift should call 303-561-2249 to receive a recorded message indicating if and when they need to arrive at the Ritchie Center.
Resource and service providers should check-in at the agency check-in table on the north side of the Ritchie Center near the volunteer table.
Free parking for resource providers is available in Lot 108, on the corner of Buchtel Boulevard and South Josephine. Parking for volunteers coming from off-campus will be available in Lot P, the Newman Center garage at the corner of University Boulevard and East Wesley Avenue.
A special pep rally for volunteers and service providers will be held on the north steps of the Ritchie Center from 8:45 to 9 a.m. Speakers will include Chancellor Robert Coombe, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, and Gaile Weisbly, senior director of Community Building for Mile High United Way.