Warm The People Fundraiser

So many of our houseless people spend so much time on the street. Even as the staff of MISSION works hard to create daytime shelters and drop in hours in Ypsi and Ann Arbor, there's no avoiding it - the houseless must walk many hours in the cold. And that takes its toll. 

Some people just can't spend the night in a shelter. They feel terribly uncomfortable inside four walls, and so they spend their nights in tents, in cars, or wherever they can find shelter. This can be brutal.

With the money we raise, we want to provide some people, at least, the winter gear that will make being on the streets a little bit more comfortable and a little less dangerous. Long underwear, wool blend socks, EMPOWR coat/sleeping bags - these things can change lives.

It seems so little, and yet it can do so much. 

1. Purchase the most EMPOWR coat/sleeping bags possible, and distribute them to MISSION shelters.

2. Purchase long underwear in xl and large sizes, wool blend socks - most likely from Sam's in Ann Arbor.

3. Distribute to MISSION shelters.

4. Take pictures at shelters, with recipient's permission, of those accepting these new items. Posting on board - if they are ok with this. 

We all see these "invisible" people - begging on the street, at the exit ramps. They are there. My Uncle Huey couldn't get sober, and died in an abandoned building fire in New York City before I was born. I never met him. I think of him, cold and alone. I see him when I see these men, young boys, trying to stay warm.

We have a responsibility to do what we can, when we can, and this is such a small thing - helping a fellow human being stay warm when it's cold outside. We need to recognize that even as we do provide shelters, not everyone can access them. What do we do for those who can't? 

We can, at the very least, provide warm clothing and outer wear. That's what we are trying to do here.