Our first event is next week, but five of us went out last Tuesday night about 7pm just to see what the streets looked like; they were fairly busy. We saw about 15 kids hanging out at the stage along with random pan-handlers around the 5th ave. shopping area. We had a few interactions, one that left me feeling rather sad, but also knowing that starting this Street Outreach Program is a good thing.
That's that for now, more stories from the streets later. Here is the ad I am posting to drum up interest, gives you are few details.
“I Just wanna feed the Homeless”I volunteer at a homeless shelter that we are closing down due to lack of funding … and it sucks. We were looked at by a number of large grant agencies but apparently a 15 year track record keeping kids off the streets was not enough. I've decided to do my own thing, to escape the politics and do what I am passionate about.
Short Version: I want to gather a group of people who are hard-core passionate about feeding the streets, to give me $20 and 4 hours a month.
We’re going to keep this simple, to provide a low entry point for volunteers as well as low administrative overhead for me. Every other Tuesday, starting at 7pm, we will meet in the common room of my apartment building at 4th and Blanchard. This will be the order of events for the night:
1. Upon your arrival everyone gives me $10, of which 100% will go into buying food for the following event. If you truly can’t afford the $10 that’s fine, but come talk to me about it instead of just ignoring it.
2. We’ll spend an hour or so chit chatting, telling stories about last weeks adventures, and listening to tunes while we put provision bags together consisting of: socks, an entrée, canned fruit, granola bar, a sweet of some sort, capri sun, shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, napkin, fork, hand warmer, and a resource card. I’ll also give some instruction to new peoples at this time.
3. Then we’ll hit the streets to distribute, shooting for groups of 3-4, rain or shine. Who knows how many groups we will have, but I know of a number of locations we can go so the more groups the merrier, and I will constantly be scouting out new areas to distribute. Some locations are 5th avenue shopping area, the park near Pike Place Market, and the park near the Union Gospel Mission.
4. When you are done you go home. I don’t want to attempt to coordinate hooking up after the event, as some groups will take longer than others. There is always the next event to tell stories. It would be nice to get an email from people who are planning to attend the night before each event, just so we know how many bags to make, but this is not a requirement.
That’s it. No politicking. No standing on a soap box. No Board of directors. Just regular people feeding those in need. This should not be such a radical concept, but it kind of is.
The first event is scheduled for October 14th.
