August of this year we celebrate 9 years open to serving in Traverse City. There is a flurry of activity at Dann’s House. Our 8 residents have happily been bitten by the gardening bug! They are watering and weeding the vegetable and flowers and rewarded with watching their garden GROW. Speaking of growth this group of guys are forming into a “band of brothers” as proclaimed by House Manager Sandy. They are learning to trust each other and take care of each other. They are also taking care of the house and property with some ownership. This pride is also… Read More »

Covid finally hit the House – all the residents, staff and most board members succumbed to the virus. All were vaccinated and had mostly mild symptoms. We are grateful for that. Winter is rough on the residents without covid restrictions volunteers were able still to hold monthly meetings with food- always welcome. The guys attend facilitated weekly house meetings. House manager and case workers have managed to get guys to medical and various appointments. At the moment the house is fairly calm – but it fluctuates about as often as the weather. Positive notes: One of our residents who has… Read More »

Winter has set in Traverse City with zero temps and considerable snowfall. Here at Dann’s House the residents have a warm, comfortable house. They have remained safe during this pandemic. Hoping residents will be able to get vaccinated soon.  Our regular snow plow guy, due to a decline in his health, was unable to plow for us this year. We were left in a lurch when we had our first big snowfall and desperately needed to be plowed. Ben just happened to be driving by in his yellow plow truck and asked if he could help. He agreed to be… Read More »

Happy New Year friends of Dann’s House! We have continued to stay safe at the House. The residents had a nice Holiday. Santa Sandy, AKA House Manager, had huge stockings filled with goodies. See the pictures. The Board also purchased requested needed gifts, such as boots, long underwear, even some art supplies and grooming items. Adult men living in community isn’t without its challenges. NMSH case workers, Jason and Paul continue to work with the residents on various issues. Board member, Bob Bevier, holds a “House Meeting” every Wednesday. These services help the guys learn to sort out their differences… Read More »

We finally purchased the duplex on Veterans Drive the end of 2019. Since then we’ve accomplished SO much. Adding residents. Hiring a full time House Manager. Prioritizing house repairs.  This summer we purchased a used van. The van has provided transportation to appointments, outings, and trips to the store.  The house had drainage problems that resulted in water in the basement. Water was diverted by digging up and replacing the old drainage system. New roof and gutters with leaf filters were installed. I’m happy to report that problem has been resolved! Additional bedrooms are being added to the north end… Read More »

Dann’s House has now purchased the property where it has been successfully operating for more than five years. The acquisition has allowed the nonprofit to open the other half of the duplex and double its capacity to serve people who need housing with a Harm Reduction approach, and secure the organization’s financial future. Since Dann’s House opened, not only have the lives of the residents been transformed, but also the way local systems address homelessness and addiction. Under a Harm Reduction model, residents are not expected to stop drinking altogether: abstinence is not required at Dann’s House. The goal is… Read More »

Two years ago we opened Dann’s House with the simple goal of getting some of the most vulnerable people off of Traverse City’s streets and giving them a place to be safe, dry, and warm. We brought guys into Dann’s House with little expectation of significant improvement. The transformations that we have seen in many of our residents since opening have been nothing short of miraculous. Tom J. had been living on the streets of Traverse City for years. He says: My life had no purpose. I would go to a free breakfast at a church, then hang out in the… Read More »

Dann’s House has received a Community Impact grant from United Way of Northwest Michigan. The grant supports our Health Initiative, in which our staff and volunteers help our residents to work towards their goals for their physical and mental health. In addition to allowing Dann’s House to purchase equipment like scales and blood sugar monitors, the grant funds a paid staff member to track the residents’  health concerns and assist them in getting the care they need.

A recent Record-Eagle article reviewed the data collected by Dann’s House from Central Dispatch in Traverse City and saw the same dramatic decrease in police calls on our residents that we did when we analyzed the data. If you would like to see the whole report, you can find it here: Data Analysis from Central Dispatch. The article was well written and well reasoned.  The only error we would note is this statement: “Reasons for the 911 calls ranged from assault and larceny to drunkenness and disorderly conduct.” “Assault” and “larceny” were among screening categories we used to gather all 564 reports for every incident at some designated… Read More »