Be the Good in Your Neighborhood

 Today's a good day to wear my CoE1 volunteer hoodie! My fellow volunteers are out in the snow today handing out 200 survivalpaks to the homeless. If you're grateful today that you are warm in good clothes, a home, driving in a warm car, go to COE1.ORG and donate to help others who aren't so privileged. Check out Congregation of Every 1 and learn about one of, if not the last outreach 501c3 non-profit in Detroit. We don't get funding from government, there's no overhead, no employees, EVERY SINGLE DONATION goes to buying supplies to put in backpacks to give to the homeless. 

I encourage you to learn about the homeless situations in your cities. Educate yourself on who they are, what they need to survive. The sad part is many people don't pay attention. I've had people tell me they want to come with me to hand out sandwiches, they want to donate used clothing, a couple people actually cleaned out their closets and gave me bags of used and clearly expired products. We don't hand out sandwiches although there are non-perishable food items in the backpacks. Clothing such as shirts and pants, not every homeless person is the same size and many of them have enough to carry without a bag of your used clothes. You'd surprised how many people don't wear clothes that we see. 

Scarves, jackets, gloves, blankets, these are acceptable. But again, we don't give used items to our people. We have a list of items that has been used for years of things we put in the backpacks. What we need is financial donations or if you want to go to your local store and buy bottles of Gatorade, handwarmers, or feminine products in bulk. Those are what they need. If you want to help and do it on your own, then absolutely put stuff in bags and go to where the homeless are and sit with them and give them something. But please remember they are homeless, they live in tents and abandoned buildings, and in run down cars. Be aware of your actions and how they will be perceived. 

*Their needs are not what you think they are.* 

 Acknowledge their existence and that they are humans just like you. Shake their hand, give them a hug, introduce yourself! See them. A lot of people have mental health issues and you need to take that into account as well. It's not just that homeless people don't have homes. Peel the onion.

In my time with COE1, I have only once seen a person ask for money and that was for a coffee. They are grateful for what's in the backpacks, they are grateful for the hugs and just to be able to talk to someone without judgment. 

As I'm typing this there is a homeless person dying of hypothermia. Dying of dehydration. DYING. The government is NOT taking care of these people. They aren't giving them the physical, psychological, and social help they need. Don't be fooled. 

If you want to help, contact me, COE1, Jeff Hocking, or any other volunteers you know of. People say they want to help, but many just talk. Do you want to just talk or will you actually help?