the Globe did a story on our subway ads; let me know what you think about them:
By Danielle Dreilinger, Globe Correspondent
As the festive season races forward, the Somerville Homeless Coalition is searching for greenbacks on a red-bedecked source: the T.
This month, the coalition launched its first-ever subway fund-raising outreach campaign on 60 Red Line cars. "We wanted to think about ways that we could try to connect with newer Somerville residents," said director Mark Alston-Follansbee, as well as young people.
Though the state reinstated funding for homeless shelters on Dec. 4, the coalition still needs to raise about $600,000 of its $3 million budget each year and "it gets harder and harder," Alston-Follansbee said.
Calls to their hot line have tripled since last December, and 30 new families a month are coming to the food pantry. The coalition has shelters for 16 adults and five families, "and both of them are always filled," Alston-Follansbee said.
He hopes the subway campaign would at the very least recoup its roughly $1,300 investment. In particular, the coalition needs more money for prevention. It costs $36,000 a year to house a family in a shelter, Alston-Follansbee said, but only $500 to $1,000 to keep that family from losing its home in the first place.
As the subway ads say, "If you think this year is tough for you, imagine what it's like for them."
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