Cold Weather Drive for Homeless
The holiday season can be really tough for those who don't have families to gather and snuggle with. Food banks fill up with donations, Giving Tuesday calls for philanthropy large and small. Well-wishers craft homemade hats and scarves, serve up hot meals for the Bay Areas ever-growing homeless population.
Here at Get Involved, we teach and try to courageously embrace daily principles of Outward Mindset and Design Thinking, asking the question "What needs to be done?" Such a scary proposition when we think of our personal resources and capabilities. But whenever we check in with our homeless friends, they give us an honest appraisal of real-time conditions affecting their lives. In the fall, they needed socks, then more hygiene kits with toiletries. But when temps dropped, those things mattered much less and simply staying warm in the damp cold of Silicon Valley became top priority--especially having a stable supply of sleeping bags for very cold temps.
We checked in with Alex Mazariegos, volunteer coordinator at Opportunity Center in Palo Alto and our Cold Weather Drive was born. Get Involved student board members and volunteers created the publicity and did the shopping. (Thank you Hannah, Adora, Jeddy and Karla!) Ada's Cafe offered free hot drinks for donations, Legends Pizza Palo Alto provided pizza discounts for filling the barrel at their shop. Generous community members gave funds totaling $1400 plus in-kind donations for us to gear up these deserving folks for winter. Next request from homeless friends: bus passes so they can visit friends and family during the holidays. Workin' on it...
Thank you to our donors for your kindness and compassionate contributions to help the homeless!
Kathryn & Randy Stoltenberg Family
Jasmine Kuen
Grace & Tommy Ames Family
Jon Courtney Clyde
Heidi & Brady Mickelson Family
Joanne Ambras
Jen & David Wiener Family
Kylee & Rodney Dial Family
Amanda & Jared Verzello Family
Carl H. Steffens, Jr.
Cove Electric, Michael Byington
Sunny Dykwel
Miki Armstrong
Liliane Pereira
Georgia Lynn McLaren
Jaime Veitch, Sunnyvale
Joanie Bigwood Osborn
Aidan Maese-Czeropski
Hart Levy Walsh