Dawn R. Parton, NAEIR Member Enrollment & Conference Attendee

Dawn Parton, NAEIR’s Member Enrollment Representative and I attended the 2012 Peer to Peer Homeless Provider Conference held at the Hilton Hotel in Springfield, IL.  The conference took place over a two day period on Sept 11th, the eleventh anniversary of 9-11  and Sept 12th.  Approximately 340 individuals were in attendance.

Ray E. Willis, Director, HUD Community Planning and Development, out of the Chicago, IL office, had recently extended an invitation for us to participate.   We thought it a wonderful opportunity to connect with individuals associated with nonprofit organizations from diverse parts of the state that serve the needs of the homeless throughout Illinois, and began preparing for the conference the week before.

During our day-long participation at the conference, the NAEIR booth was situated in the mezzanine immediately outside of the Illinois Ballroom – where attendees gathered during several of the scheduled plenary sessions.  We took advantage of the flow of attendees as they made their way throughout the day, to and from the ballroom and the various meeting rooms where break out sessions that dealt with a variety of challenges and topics were being addressed.  These included homeless youth and veterans, outreach and engagement of the homeless and mainstream resources.  

NAEIR Booth: 2012 HUD Homeless Providers Conference – Illinois

Dawn and I found that there was a great deal of interest in NAEIR’s services as we introduced ourselves and explained that through our Basic and Premier programs,  qualifying nonprofits, schools and church organizations can avail themselves of thousands of dollars worth of a wide range of inventory that is ideal for their particular administrative and program needs.  We also expressed over numerous conversations with participants at the conference, that NAEIR’s programs are designed to help them stretch their budget dollars.   

 If you’re a business and would like to donate to NAEIR, or if you’re a nonprofit, school or church and would like to learn more about the benefits of joining, please give us a call at (800)-562-0955 or visit our website at www.naeir.org.