Salt Lake City, UT – January 27, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) – Governor Jon Huntsman will speak Friday, January 30 at the annual launch of the Pamela Atkinson Homeless Trust Fund tax campaign. The campaign urging Utahns to contribute to the statewide cause of ending chronic homelessness begins at 11:30 a.m. at Catholic Community Services in Salt Lake City, (745 East 300 South). Joining the Governor will be Pamela Atkinson, community advocate for the homeless and The Most Reverend Bishop John Wester of the Catholic Diocese.
More than $2 million has been donated to the trust since its inception in 1988. These contributions, made by checking a box on Utah income tax forms, directly benefits the homeless, the State’s neediest men, women and children. The money funds local charities that aid the homeless; $2 pays for a hot meal, $7 pays for one night of shelter, and $40 pays for a night of transitional housing and other support services for abused women and their children.
This funding has proved to be vital in creating a positive outcome for all Utahns. “Housing homeless individuals provides long-term cost savings, helps these people become more self-sufficient and allows us to serve a greater number of people without having to build more facilities,” says Pamela Atkinson, an advocate for the homeless, and the trust’s namesake. “We are moving away from a strategy of managing homelessness, to solving it. It’s an ambitious goal, but we’re at a tipping point. With your help, we could be the first state in the nation to achieve it.”
