This is what Last House on the Block Society did in 2014 as part of our Santa Under The Bridge project.
Our volunteers knitted 190 diversity scarves. Those scarves were placed in gift bags along with other items. Those items were 2 pairs of thermal socks, personal care items, a winter hat, a Christmas card, some candy canes, and other items that varied due to supplies on hand. Each bag also contained a small card describing what the diversity scarf symbolizes and that it was hand knitted by a volunteer.
These gift packs were then sorted into groups, usually 12 gift packs to a group. In some instances, they were all for men, in some cases they were all for women, in still other cases there was an equal number of men's and women's packs. Some groups also included children's gift packs.
In some cases, we included non-perishable food items.
Each group of gift packs was then donated to a community group or organization to be presented to their clients as Xmas gifts. The deliveries were made by volunteers from the board of directors who dressed up in Santa hats or suits. We actually had a fantastic time doing it.
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This year we plan to do things pretty much the same way.The organizations we deliver to this year will also be basically the same ones we delivered to last year, with a few minor changes. We're hoping to add a few names to the list.
The timeline is roughly this. Over the next few weeks, we will be purchasing thermal socks and personal care items that go into the gift bags, also christmas cards and candy canes, as well as the bags themselves. We have grant money that we use for those purchases. Naturally, the more donated items, the more we can do. Our goal is 200 gift packs. Anything over and above that we can certainly find a place to donate it to.
About mid-November, we start preparing the gift packs. And then, during the first week or two of December, we deliver those gifts to the community groups or organizations on our list. Those organizations offer support and resources to persons in recovery from addictions, persons who may be homeless, who may suffer from abuse or mental illness, sex trade workers, youth, seniors, males, females. We try to be as inclusive as possible.
There is a misconception that our volunteers wander the streets passing out gifts to people sleeping under the bridge. Although we have, on occasion, offered assistance to individuals, as a rule we donate our gifts to organizations and allow them to get the gifts to the people who need them.
So that's what we do.
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