Welcome Home Dayton Featured on WYSO
Nonprofit furnishes homes to welcome people coming out of homelessness
WYSO | By Renee Wilde
It's the little touches that make a home, said April Alford-Barclay. That includes a poster of the Bee Gees, which is a favorite of the new tenant.
Published April 5, 2024 at 11:39 AM EDT
One of the that big challenges faced by someone coming out of homelessness is that they often don't have anything for their new home.
That's why April Alford-Barclay started nonprofit Welcome Home Dayton, which provides all the furnishings for the apartment.
From the silverware and dishes, to bed and linens, to towels and bath care, the team of volunteers make sure the space is ready to welcome their client home.
“We don’t just say, “here,here’s a bed, here’s a dining table,” Alford-Barclay said, looking around a pretty yellow and blue themed room designed by the group. “We make them leave for the day, we do it all, and then they come home and we do, like, a big reveal.”
Alford-Barclay points to a Bee Gees poster hanging on the wall above a small, black cafe table in a studio apartment in Dayton. She said she asked the apartment’s occupant who their favorite artist was.
“And she said, the Bee Gees and the Animals,” Alford-Barcaly recalled. “So I had this poster made for her, and if you take a picture of the little wavelength there, it actually plays the album on spotify.”
Alford-Barclay was inspired to create Welcome Home Dayton based on her own experience with homelessness with her mother when she was 6 years old.
“And I remember people giving us things, you know, clothes with holes in it or food that they wouldn’t want to consume, and it’s like, we’re still human, we’re still people,” she said.
“Our board, we like to use the word dignified. Like we want to treat them with dignity,” Alford Barclay said, her voice growing stronger. “We have so many clients who have been looked down upon.”
Client welcomed home
Jenny is one of Welcome Home Dayton's clients. Jenny experienced homelessness after leaving an abusive relationship and WYSO is not using her real name for her safety and privacy.
“So I got married to an American. I came from another country, and when I got to America I was under excessive abuse," she said. "I was physically abused, metally, emotionally, and psychologically abused and I had to go to the women's shelter because I didn’t have anywhere to go. I stayed there and I didn’t have a job. It was miserable. It was a dark - it was the darkest moment and period of my life. Darkest.”
Jenny is now living in this apartment that April and the Welcome Home Dayton team have been furnishing.
A plush blue velvet sofa with yellow throw pillows perks up the space. Across the room a cheerful yellow bedspread covers a double bed with a matching blue velvet throw draped across the end.
Add a couple colorful woodblock prints from etsy on the walls, and the overall effect has a middle eastern flair.
Looking around the cheerful basement apartment, Jenny smiled remembering the day of the apartment's reveal.
“It was just so beautiful,” she said. “It was full of love. When I came into the studio it was just love jumping in my face, jumping all over me. Like it was love.”
Custom design
Alford-Barclay throws in little custom touches like books, scented candles and children's games.
“We’ve had 12 clients and I would say the majority of them are families with children,” Alford-Barclay said. “The biggest issue with us is funding. So because we are so small and just starting out, we can’t get the big grants because we don’t have that kind of budget. So we raise funds.”
April Alford-Barclay was inspired to create Welcome Home Dayton vased on her own experiences with homelessness.
When her mom died in 2020, Alford-Barclay took $10,000 of her insurance money and poured it into the non-profit.
“We did a few clients with that,” Alford-Barclay said. “It usually takes four to five thousand dollars per client.“
Alford-Barclay and her team at Welcome Home Dayton are all volunteers. They are looking to grow the organization with a grant writer and more board members.
She said the organization is also looking for someone to donate a warehouse space that could hold furniture and host fundraisers.
“Every install we do, we feel great about it afterwards,” Alford-Barclay said, looking at photos of past installations on her phone.
One home at a time
Right now, she’s excited to be spreading the love one home at a time.
“Most of the time we get, ‘Oh, I didn’t know this existed,’ Alford-Barclay said.
Recently a woman mistakenly called her thinking it was Welcome Dayton, which is the program to welcome immigrants, run by the city of Dayton.
Alford-Barclay told the woman no, it was Welcome Home Dayton. And then explained what the organization did.
The woman on the other end of the phone turned out to be from St. Vincent De Paul.
“And she said 'Oh my goodness. Yes we have clients that need your service,” Alford-Barclay said, laughing. “I don’t believe in coincidences. That happened for a reason.”
Welcome Home Dayton will be hosting a charity bingo night fundraiser on April 9 at the Yellow Cab Tavern.
Renee Wilde was part of the 2013 Community Voices class, allowing her to combine a passion for storytelling and love of public radio. She started out as a volunteer at the radio station, creating the weekly WYSO Community Calendar and co-producing Women’s Voices from the Dayton Correctional Institution - winner of the 2017 PRINDI award for best long-form documentary. She also had the top two highest ranked stories on the WYSO website in one year with Why So Curious features. Renee produced WYSO’s series County Lines which takes listeners down back roads and into small towns throughout southwestern Ohio, and created Agraria’s Grounded Hope podcast exploring the past, present and future of agriculture in Ohio through a regenerative lens. Her stories have been featured on NPR, Harvest Public Media and Indiana Public Radio.
Cones for a Cause
We are excited to announce Welcome Home Dayton has been awarded a grant from Cones for a Cause, an Old Scratch Pizza Charitable fund! With this grant we will be able to furnish the home of our next client, and give them a dignified space that they will love.
Welcome Home Dayton partners with Mad River Local Schools Neighborhood Bridges Project
Welcome Home Dayton understands the importance of giving back to the community. Mad River Local Schools reached out to find out about partnering with us to help some of their families who are transitioning from homelessness. After reviewing their Neighborhood Bridges project, we decided to help out with their project.
Neighborhood Bridges is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization that was launched in January of 2017 to respond to the growing rate of poverty in suburban and rural America. Their mission is to bridge communities with schools in providing basic needs, removing barriers, and seeking equity for students so they can engage and succeed in school and life.
Here is a video that shows how Neighborhood Bridges works. I hope you will be compelled to help this organization meet the needs within the community.
Why Your Donation is Important
I am currently reading the book Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond, and I came across a quote that resonated with me:
“Poverty is diminished life and personhood. It changes how you think and prevents you from realizing your full potential. It shrinks the mental energy you can dedicate to decisions, forcing you to focus on the latest stressor - an overdue gas bill, a lost job - at the expense of everything else.”
This quote made me think not only about when my mom and I were unhoused, but also about our transition. Even when we moved into our apartment, the every day stressors of life were still there. She had to start fresh with buying furniture because we lost everything in a fire, but we also needed food and other necessities. The gas bill and light bill were ever present. So, all of the attention had to go to the biggest stressor - at the expense of everything else. I can remember us living in that apartment for almost 3 years without heat or hot water. A friend of hers rigged it so that we had electricity. We had to boil water on a hot plate to take a bath.
I bring up this story to show that even when unhoused people get apartments or homes, there are still needs, and they won’t be able to tend to all of them. This is why I founded Welcome Home Dayton. I wanted to take that one big stressor off of their plate so that they could focus on other things. It was and has been my prayer that what we do will lighten the load for our clients.
Please consider making a donation to our cause on the “Ways to Give” page of our website. $20 could buy a family a shower curtain. $35 could buy a family a comforter set. $60 could buy a family a pot and pan set. $90 could buy a family a full size bed frame with headboard. $150 could buy a family a full size mattress.
Your donation will help us continue to change lives, one home at a time.
Grant Writer Needed
Welcome Home Dayton was founded in 2017, and since that time our team of volunteers have put in a lot of effort to raise funds for each of the client installs that we have done. We have applied for quite a few local grants, and won several. When it comes to larger grants that would help sustain our mission, we come up against a barrier to entry every single time. So, we are reaching out to our community and asking for your help in locating a grant writer. If you are one, or you know one, please connect with us so that we can continue to serve our community.
Referrals can be emailed to us at welcomehomedayton@welcomehomedayton.org.
Please help us continue to change lives, one home at a time.
Serving Others
We would like to thank our team of volunteers, and those who have reached out to sign up to help us changes lives, one home at a time. You are greatly appreciated, and we know that we would not be able to change lives without you all.
Board Member Spotlight
We would like to thank our board member Dominic Blair, who is the head of our fundraising/events team.
Dominic has been putting in a lot of effort to plan some fundraising activities and events for 2024.
Some of the things that Dominic has been working on include planning a Bingo Night at Yellow Cab in April, a 5K Run/Walk for September, and a skate night for our former clients and their families.
Dominic, we thank you for your continued dedication to our mission and vision here at Welcome Home Dayton!
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Tour de Gem
Welcome Home Dayton has signed up for the Tour de Gem! Tour de Gem is a fundraising cycling event for local nonprofits to raise money and bring awareness to their important missions. This is a fun, family-friendly way for cyclists of all ages and abilities to have a positive impact in their community and explore the many GEMs the Dayton region has to offer!
If you would like to ride with us and/or donate , please do so here . The money that we raise will be used to further our purpose, which is to furnish homes for people transitioning from homelessness.
Make your tax-deductible donation today and take the first step toward helping us achieve our goal. Thank you for your support!
website: www.welcomehomedayton.org
email: welcomehomedayton@welcomehomedayton.org
New Client
We are excited to work on our next space. Please stay tuned for more information on how you can help with our next install.
April + The Welcome Home Dayton Team
Meet The Team - Inger Marsh
I am a lifetime Girl Scout, Board member of WDACU ( Wright Dunbar Area Credit Union), a former member of FROC priority Board, Board member of BIG (Blacks In Government), Independent Avon Rep. and a Board member of Welcome Home Dayton!
I love line dancing, basketball (Indiana Pacers) and Cleveland Browns. If you know me then you know Bobby Brown is the ultimate performer ever! I also like reading mysteries and going on adventures!
I love the mission of Welcome Home Dayton! We have placed so much comfort and joy into several families. Knowing that it's another individual and/or family feeling at home with one less worry. Feels fantastic! The best part is the family is kept private. So that each family will keep their privacy and walk with pride.
I look forward to an exciting future with Welcome Home Dayton!
Meet The Team - Dominic K. Blair
Hi, my name is Dominic Blair and I am from Dallas, Texas, but have lived in Dayton, Ohio for the last 12 years. I currently work for our local electric company, but plan on going into education/social services once I finish my degree in February. I'd love to teach religion, psychology, or sociology to high school students, or have my own classroom for fourth or fifth grade.
I’ve been married to my wife for two years. We dated for six years. We have a nine-month-old daughter named Vayda-Jean. Being a dad has been the best part of my life so far. Mostly, we just like to stay home and hang out together. We enjoy Sunday football (GO BENGALS) and tacos. When we do go out, we like to go to target, book stores, and festivals. Outside of that, I personally enjoy reading (mostly Stephen King/horror/fantasy), doing puzzles, and sports.
I wanted to be a board member for Welcome Home Dayton because I love the mission. I grew up in government housing with state assistance and I’ve known what it’s like to struggle. I want my daughter to grow up in a world where there are kind, generous, and great people who help others when they need the help and support most. Especially when we can help in a way that is dignifying, and creates a mindset of growth and future potential. In addition to that, I like to think that I have a creative mind and working on projects like Welcome Home Dayton combines a passion for public service with a creative outlet to create beautiful homes and memories that will last a lifetime.
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Meet The Team - Linda Brewster
Linda is the Secretary of the Board.
Not wanting to be long distance grandparents, my husband Larry and I moved to Dayton to be near our only grandchild; we now have three. Prior to coming to Ohio, we lived in California where I was born and raised.
I had a court transcription business for 38 years, which I am now retired from. I am currently working for the Montgomery County Board of Elections. I retired in 2021 for nine months and then returned to work and have been back for almost a year now.
I have been involved in Welcome Home Dayton since its inception in 2017. I strongly believe in our mission and am proud to be a member of the Board of Directors.
Correction from last post:
Cheryl S. Johnson was an original member of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company under Jeraldyne Blunden
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Meet The Team - Cheryl S. Johnson
Cheryl Johnson, Board Chair of Welcome Home Dayton
Cheryl Stewart Johnson, who currently serves as Welcome Home Dayton’s Chair of the Board, is a native Daytonian. She was and educator and administrator with Dayton Public Schools for 41 years, while being a wife and mother. Her interest in supporting initiatives around the needs of women, men, and youth led her to working with several organizations in the Dayton community, including Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and Twentig, Inc. She is presently the Business Manager of Bethel, and a Trustee.
The arts have been an integral part of life. She was the church organist for more than fifty years, and an original member of the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company under the direction of Jeraldyne Blunden. Interior design has also been her passion. Working with Welcome Home Dayton’s founder, April Alford-Barclay, has offered an opportunity to express the need to provide a warm, inviting environment for those being served.
As our motto says,” Changing Lives, One Home at a Time,” is Cheryl S. Johnson’s basis for serving.
Family of Seven Gets a New Start
We received a referral for a a family of 7 who lost everything in a fire. A fire is the thing that started the cycle of my mom and I being homeless, so I knew I wanted to take this client. I met with the family to see what their needs were, and got down to business.
Here are the before photos of the space:
Decorating for a family of seven is the most that we have done so far. Our biggest challenge is the fact that the bedrooms were not really big. Mom has a bedroom, the oldest daughter has a bedroom, the three boys were in one bedroom and the two girls were in the last bedroom. So, we had to work with the space that we had.
We knew that we needed dressers to store items like socks, PJs and underwear, so the search started for those. Our board member Cheryl Johnson donated this dresser, and we decided to use it in the oldest daughter’s room. Here are the before and after photos. I went to Home Depot and chose a paint color, and picked up some knobs from Hobby Lobby. I love how it came out.
We needed a dresser or the girls room, so off to St. Vincent de Paul I went. I loved the color of the wood, so I decided to just wipe it down and change the knobs on it.
We really enjoyed giving this family a space they can love.
Here are the after photos. I took more video footage than actual photos, so please check out our YouTube channel to see the footage.
Thanks so much to the WHD team (Cheryl, Dominic, Inger, and Linda) as well as our volunteers, Larry, “Lovebug”, Melissa, Sarah, Shannon and Todd.
See you on the next install!
April & the Welcome Home Dayton Team
Grant Writer Needed and New Client Update
Here at Welcome Home Dayton, we absolutely love what we do. With that being said, the passion and drive can only take us so far. We need money/donations to continue. We are in the business of bringing the design to life, and grant writing is not in our wheelhouse. So, we are reaching out to our community to see if any of you can help us out. If you are a grant writer and can give of your time, please let us know.
We have been putting in time shopping for our next client install, for a mom and her six children. They lost everything in a fire, so we are starting from scratch on this install. The install will occur on Saturday, March 11th. If you would like to volunteer, please make sure to sign up via our website, or email us at WelcomeHomeDayton2017@gmail.com
Wishing you all a phenomenal week!
April and the Welcome Home Dayton Team!
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
We received a referral about a new client, and we need help making this install happen. If you would like to donate items or sponsor a portion of this install, please reach out to us. Help us create a loving space for mom and her children.
Thanks,
April and the Welcome Home Dayton Team
October Client Install | The Reveal
Our client’s bedroom.
On October 15th we did the install for our client, and he was over the moon excited when we revealed his space to him. He shared with us that he had been homeless for thirteen months, but now he’s home. In a text sent to our Board Chair Cheryl Johnson he stated, “I woke up this morning and had to remind myself this wasn’t a dream. You listened to me and made it great, bot you and your team. Again, thank you so much. God truly blessed me with friends”
Below are photos of the work we did in each room. It was our honor and pleasure to create this space for our client, and we look forward to future reveals.
Thanks so much to the team for coming out and making this reveal special!!!
Dominic, Linda, April, Cheryl and Inger
Thank you all for your continued support!
April and the Welcome Home Dayton Team
October Client Install
We have completed all of our shopping, and we are ready for the next client install, which will take place on Saturday, October 15, 2022. Stay tuned for the photo reveal. If you are not already, please subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the full video transformation.
I thought I hit publish on this one, but apparently I did not.
As always, thanks for your continued support.
April and the Welcome Home Dayton Team
We're Now on YouTube
During the past installs we would post all of the photos on our social media pages. Over the past month we started to brainstorm and decided to start a YouTube page to get the word out about Welcome Home Dayton. I am new to recording and editing video footage, so please be gentle (and patient) with me while I work through the kinks. I am taking some Skillshare classes to learn about editing and creating a good story. Hopefully you will see the progress in the videos that we post.
We would greatly appreciate it if you would subscribe to the channel. Click below to go to the page.
Thank you all for your continued support!
April and the Welcome Home Dayton Team!