To all supporters

First of all, I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart, for supporting this petition. I really didn't expect to get many signatures and I am so grateful for the 84 that we have.

I have decided to carry the petition through to the weekend and then contact City Manager Bohenko, Mayor Jack Blalock, and the rest of the city council either by email or phone call next week. If I can get a meeting with Mr. Bohenko that would be wonderful. Then after that, with or without a meeting, I will deliver the petition and signatures along with any comments, to all recipients. I will then update you further to let you know if we are making progress to our final goal. That goal is to have the city decide to provide a warming center during severe cold/stormy weather and to bring people who live outside in out of the cold. 

As I have stated before, this is not supposed to be a solution to the homelessness in Portsmouth. Only housing can do that. But we can maybe save a life or at the very least warm some bodies and maybe even some hearts and souls. 

I pondered whether to start this project as the memories of my son and myself being homeless, years ago, still are strong in my memory. While we were not outside in the cold, we still suffered. I still feel guilt that I could not have helped my son more. We were however helped by some private citizens and a town welfare office. It was not Portsmouth you can believe that. I always hoped that someday I could find a way to help people who are homeless, to try and pay it forward with action.

I was sitting on a bus stop last week on a particularly cold day, waiting for a bus and had realized I had read the schedule wrong and would have to wait another hour and a half for the next bus (it was Saturday with reduced bus service). I was dressed very warm yet I was still freezing! I found my way into a store and I called my son to pick me up as I just couldn't sit out there any longer. Over the next couple of days, I saw some talk online about a warming center. I thought, enough talk I need to do something! That is why I started this petition. I do it for people who are homeless, I do it for my son and myself, as although I can't turn back time, I can use those painful memories to try to make a difference for someone else. 

Thank you for helping me try!

Sincerely,

Donna Westbrook