Our church helps at the homeless shelter by bringing sack lunches for the homeless. They get hot meals six days a week, and the sack lunches help tide them over from Saturday until Monday. Several churches do this, so we only do it every couple months. Our turn was yesterday. I had never done it before. It was quite an eyeopener.
Our town has a severe problem with a lack of affordable housing. Rents have skyrocketed recently, and weekly motels have been torn down. And the vacancy rate is approaching zero. Many previously housed people have become homeless.
After making around 300 lunches at the church, we went to the homeless shelter. We were outside for 2 1/2 hours, first handing out toiletries and donated clothes, then the sack lunches. It was quite chilly, hovering around freezing, and snowing.
What I wore: a North Face green fleece, jeans and long underwear, Santana winter boots, North Face fleece hat and scarf, fleece gloves, and Fjallraven Greenland down jacket. By the end my hands and feet were cold. We were lucky that they put up pop ups (portable shelters) or we would have been soaked.
ETA: I donated my Cabellas long down coat, and was gratified to see an older woman find it in the pile of clothes and immediately put it on. I think it will go to good use.
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