On November 17 2007, Play 4 Life, Inc. and Jamba Juice will bring The Giving Thanks Project to serve The Concourse House located at 2751 Grand Concourse in the Bronx.

The aim of the Giving Thanks Project is to provide mentorship, support and health education to mothers and their children in a homeless shelter at a time when community support is most vital. Program activities will engage shelter residents in physical activity and educate them on nutritious autumn recipes.  These activities seek to create a true culture change, avoid stigmatizing individuals and impacting their self-esteem, and promoting healthy behaviors to establish life-long healthy habits. Participants will leave the event with enhanced knowledge on the importance of physical activity and fresh food in living a healthy lifestyle, in turn, reducing the risk of chronic illness and obesity.

Concourse House, home for women and their children, works to eliminate homelessness by providing homeless families with safe, stable, transitional housing. Concourse House works with the families to break the cycle of poverty by providing a variety of social services and interactive programs that promote growth and independence.

Concourse House emphasizes education, stability, and healthy independent living. Each family is offered programs and activities directed towards goal-setting and developing a sense of personal responsibility. By providing the women and children with a supportive and engaging environment, Concourse House hopes to instill in the families a successful transition into permanent housing.

There are 42 women and 50 children who live at Concourse House. Concourse House has a high success rate of assisting these mothers to find employment and permanent housing. They provide the mothers access to day-care, after school programming, employment workshops and fairs, and job training.

For the Giving Thanks Project, Concourse House expects 20 women, 20 children, and 5 staff members to attend.

All photos were taken by Udo Derrick Salters.