In the winter of 1997-1998 I was a homeless person. It was a result of alcoholism. I found myself living in a transition house for male alcoholics and addicts. It's called Freedom Foundation and it has helped hundreds of men on the road to recovery.
I worked there for about 12 years after I sobered up. We parted ways three years ago and a few months later I decided to open my own house. That's how Last House on the Block Society got started.
Opening a house is a big project, too big for us to handle so we decided not to go that route and altered our mission statement to become a community outreach.
During a board meeting, my wife Nancy, who is also a recovered alcoholic and also on the board, suggested knitting scarves for the girls in Marguerite Center. And so the scarf project came into being. We called it Santa Under The Bridge.
In Xmas 2013 we donated 40 scarves to 3 places. Xmas 2014 saw us at 190 scarves which we donated to 15 organizations. During that year we broadened the scope of our assistance to include persons in recovery from addictions, abuse, and homelessness. Many of the people who receive our gifts are also living with a mental illness.
In 2015, we donated well over 200 of our scarves to 15 community organizations.
2016 is just beginning and the project is just beginning. As far as we know, we have half a dozen scarves. I, myself, learned to knit last year and one of my scarves is in the pile. I don't knit very fast and the project may only see a dozen scarves from me. But, at least it's something. If I can put a smile on a dozen faces on Christmas morning then I've done a wonderful thing. If I can also help them stay warm, that's an added bonus.
