Event vendors provided dental, vision, and other critical services to Harford County’s underserved population.
Almost 500 individuals experiencing or at-risk of homelessness in Harford County were helped back on the path to a stable life at United Way of Central Maryland’s fourth annual Project Homeless Connect. Replicated in more than 300 cities, Project Homeless Connect is a resource fair that provides those experiencing or at-risk of homelessness on-the-spot services all in one place. More than 50 local organizations and over 400 area volunteers came together to ensure attendees received vital healthcare and other critical services.
Volunteers at Thursday’s Harford County Project Homeless Connect event were matched one-on-one with a homeless adult, and guided them to available services. Similar to last year, this year’s event featured an on-site dental clinic, which offered cleanings, fillings and extractions to 150 patients over the course of the day. In addition to the dental clinic, there was an onsite vision clinic that completed 120 vision screenings, while 100 eyeglasses were prescribed to individuals. On-the-spot services—ranging from housing information, employment programs to haircuts, legal services and more—were also available this year.
“In a time when a lot of families are feeling financially stressed, it’s inspiring to see so many people and companies come together to help others and make a real difference in the life of a person or a family who has lost so much,” said Franklyn Baker, president and CEO of United Way of Central Maryland. “Today, we served Harford County’s homeless population, but we also helped families who are working hard but just can’t make ends meet. Now more than ever, we need to come together to help our neighbors. We are so incredibly appreciative of the volunteers and service providers who gave their time and talents yesterday to help others.”
At last year’s event, more than 400 people received services. This year’s United Way of Central Maryland Project Homeless Connect event in Harford County was made possible thanks to generous partnerships with DentalQuest, Harford County Government, Harford Community College Harford Mutual, Healthy Harford/Healthy Cecil, Jones Junction, Maryland Office of Oral Health, Maryland State Dental Association, NVS Merle Norman, Pat’s Pizzeria and Wells Fargo Advisors.
To learn more about this year’s Project Homeless Connect, please visit https://www.uwcm.org/main/family-stability-programs/project-homeless-connect/.
