OT Helping The Homeless :)

[littlebear]

I just thought this was a good idea, and anyone who's looking to help the homeless can use it

My friend and I are going to our local dollar store and getting toothpaste, toothbrushes, deo, shampoos and conditioners, socks, water, and little snacks to put in a goody bag and pass out to homeless people down town.

If you've ever done this, or you are going to, please share!

 

[jcheermom]

Our gym collected travel size items and distributed to the homeless/needy as a community service project. They also let the parents and other athletes know that they were doing this especially during competition season because oftentimes people can bring these items home from hotels and give them to the people collecting them to distribute to the less fortunate.

 

[aggie1983]

This is wonderful of you to do and I commend you for it. However, I hope you and your friend will not be alone. I hope you will have at least one dad with you. Sorry to be in any way negative, but just don't take any chances. While most of the homeless people you will encounter will simply be very appreciative, some are there because of mental disorders - just please be careful. Again, I apologize for being a downer, but mom tendencies are hard to shake.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

When I first saw this thread, I thought you were posting this video:



*Note: Although this was funny, and cute, I would not recommend doing this.

But good luck with your mission! I loved doing these things! In high school, I remember my friends and I helped out with homeless/ food pantry drives, collecting things for soldier packages to ship overseas, hygiene kits for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, and then my gyms did Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinner food collections as well as adopt a few families each Christmas to collect gifts and necessities for.

My favorite memory of doing this was Junior year of high school, our school had a guy stand in the lobby collecting food for the local food pantry (it was between Thanksgiving and Christmas). He was there for 5 days straight (Monday- Friday). Each day my friend and I walked past him and he never had more than 7 cans of vegetables in his little box. With over 3,000 people in our school, it was a shame not to see more than that. So Thursday night, we went to the grocery store and bought over $45 worth of food to bring in. And it wasn't all boring food either, like green beans and canned corn. We brought in taco kits, jello and pudding mix, hot cocoa mix and marshmallows, applesauce, mac and cheese, candy, noodles, various types of tomato and cheese sauce, anything we thought kids in need would absolutely love to have but maybe their parents couldn't afford at the time. We brought it in to the guy on the last day and his face literally lit up. I don't think I've ever seen anyone so grateful and happy, he even insisted he hug us, he couldn't stop smiling and jumping up and down. The feeling you get when you give back, even anonymously is probably the best feeling ever.

Hopefully when I get a steady job in the future and have enough money, I can adopt a family each year and give them a very nice Christmas breakfast and dinner. I would LOVE to do that.