Blankets, Toiletries, Socks

The short version: 

We are very much in need of blankets, toiletries, and socks.  Demand is high and our supplies are low.  You can help.  The last two paragraphs of this post tell you how.

Some of last year's bounty, long since handed out.

 The slightly longer version:

Imagine going without soap, without toothpaste, without shampoo.  This is the reality faced by many of the folks we serve.  We can really use sample sizes of toothpaste, dental floss, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and lotion.  Small sizes are best so they are easy to carry for folks living outside.  We can hand out 50 or more hygiene kits with these items at one Community Dinner with no problem.  So if you have little bottles left from your last hotel visit, if you have those novelty soap bars someone gave you last Christmas and you still haven’t used, if you feel moved to go on a shopping spree at your local dollar store or the sample aisle at the drug store, we will gladly take all the toiletries you can offer us.  One enterprising friend asked her dentist for samples and gave us over 50 tubes of toothpaste and packages of dental floss.  Maybe you dentist has samples they’d like to be rid of, too.

Imagine how your feet would feel if you were stuck in the same pair of socks day after day.  For folks living outside, clean dry socks are gold.  When one has no place to wash them, socks become disposable items.  Combined with walking many miles each day to access services and often being stuck with ill fitting shoes, the lack of clean socks contributes substantially is damaging to people's feet.  Would your church or organization like to have a sock drive for us?  Would you be willing to contribute a package or two?  We’re especially interested in white athletic socks as they hold up best.  There is no such thing as too many socks.  There is no shortage of people grateful to have them.

And it’s getting much colder now.  Especially at night.  As with socks, blankets get dirty quickly when one has no place to wash them, and stay soggy when one has no place to dry them after a damp night on San Francisco’s streets.  Imagine sleeping outside with nothing but a soggy blanket to keep you warm.  Do you have a spare sleeping bag you haven’t used in years?  Have any blankets that have been sitting in the linen closet unused?  Care to organize a blanket drive at your church or other organization?  We can take all the blankets you can give. 

You can drop any of these items off at 950 McAllister St., (between Laguna and Webster) Monday through Thursday during business hours.  Items can also be dropped off at the Faithful Fools at 234 Hyde (between Eddy and Turk), just call 415-474-0508 or email fools@faithfulfools.org to arrange a drop off time.

 

If you organize a drive and would like us to pick up what you collect, we are happy to do that in San Francisco, the Peninsula, or anywhere within fifteen minutes driving of the Bay Bridge or Golden Gate Bridge.   Just drop us a line at sfcares@saintpaulus.org or call us at 415-673-3572 and we’ll work out the details.

SF CARE Sock Drive a Success

SF CARE Sock Drive a Success

This is not a post about numbers, because that’s my least favorite way to measure success.

I didn’t count how many people came to the SF CARE Kick Off and Sock Drive. I can tell you we had a pretty steady flow of a few at a time. I can tell you Tree and Jordan and Dan and Lyle and Megan and I had a good time talking with them. I can tell you people enjoyed the food and loved exploring the Free Farm. I can tell you we had a fair few people sign up to be on our mailing list. (Ok, I have a hard number there, but this is not a post about numbers.)

I didn’t count how many socks we received. I can tell you people were very generous and also actually listened to the part about bringing white athletic socks. We didn’t get any other kind. I can tell you they filled half of one of those huge boxes the army blankets come in.

I can tell you so many people stopped by to ask about what was going on while I was setting up that I was half an hour late getting lunch going (even though I’d budgeted some time to talk to folks who came by while I was setting up).

While I was finishing the clean up another couple stopped by to have a look at the Farm and I gave them the balloons I was taking down off the gate to give to their son. Lyle had taken the other balloons already and they ended up going to the Friendship Banquet on Tuesday. (Dollar Tree is the place to go if you want helium balloons that will last a while.)

We had plenty of leftovers to feed the folks at Night Ministry's Tuesday night community gathering, too.

We publicized the Free Farm and SF CARE a bit. We gathered a lot of socks, and had balloons and food to share. We had a good time. One doesn’t need numbers to call that a success.