I don’t know very many people who haven’t been impacting by the economy. The financial crisis has significantly impacted our community and our day to day lives and spending habits. Despite that, most people I know are fortunate to have a roof over our heads and food on our tables. Sadly, many Bay Area residents aren’t as fortunate.
In the San Francisco Bay area, there are approximately 35,000 homeless people; In San Francisco, estimates put the number between 7,000-15,000, which is the highest per capita rate of homelessness in any major American city. *Â Affluent Marin County had more than 1770 homeless people living within its borders at least count in January 2009, with more than 3000 people on the verge of becoming homeless.**
Yesterday morning I was complaining about how cold it was as I had to defrost the ice on my windshield. I can’t imagine living on the streets ever, let alone in the freezing nights of winter.
This Saturday, December 4, 2010 volunteers will be gather to make and distribute 5,000 StreetPacks to bay area homeless adults and children who live on the street. The “StreetPacks” are backpacks filled with cold weather necesseties including gloves, hats, scarves, wool socks and rain ponchos. 5,000 Bay Area children hand write a personal holiday card to be included in the backpack. The backpacks will be distributed to 40 sites around the Bay Area, including Marin County, San Francisco, Richmond and the East Bay.
The event is run by Warm Wishes, a non-profit organization who describes it’s purpose as this:
Our purpose is for the homeless people to stay warm; perhaps to save a life. But our purpose, too, is for our volunteers to reap the rewards of looking into the eyes of a stranger, of coming closer to understanding his or her plight, and filling with the feeling of doing good for others.
How you can you help?
- Volunteer: Join volunteers on Saturday, December 4, 2010 at Unity of Marin in Novato, 600 Palm Drive. 8am. Volunteers will assemble the backpacks and then go out into the community to personally deliver the StreetPacks to Bay Area homeless. Volunteers are asked to donate $10.00 or more to offset the cost of the backpack items.
- Donate: Donations can be made online at WarmWishes.org.
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