Last month I spent an afternoon outside Dorothy Day Center in St Paul with the people with Communitas. The last of the underwear that CrossRoads Church (Woodbury) donated to Praxis last winter is gone ("Undie Sunday")! That is a total of ~3000 pairs of underwear (which we individually packaged, labeled and sorted) which have been distributed one-to-one. That also means a thousand conversations, some long, and some brief (can't avoid a pun now and then....), a thousand signs that the homeless are not forgotten. THANK YOU CrossRoads Church (http://www.crossroadschurch.cc/)
So the people at Communitas (http://www.communitastc.org/) are the ones that organize the annual new boot give away each December. I am impressed by their organization of the event. They fit each person, and then give them a voucher which they bring back the next week to receive the proper fitting boots. For more info on supporting this, please see their website. New warm boots are so important to the homeless in a Minnesota winter!
A friend from CrossRoads asked what items are good for a hygiene kit, and this is what I told her:
There are many options for hygiene kits.
These are the basics (all these are travel size):
> shampoo
> conditioner
> Hand/skin cream
> powder/foot powder (this is highly prized!)
> toothbrush and toothpaste (toothpaste can be larger than travel size, but not jumbo size)
Then at least some of the follow should be added (or else the kit is rather sparse)
> bar of soap in a ziplock bag
> facecloth in a ziplock bag (inexpensive in bulk at Walmart, for example)
> razor and shaving cream (travel size)
> chapstick or other lip balm
Separate packs can be made for feminine hygiene;
> 10 packs of whatever product, in ziplock bag. (this would be a huge bonus to get these!!!)
Blessings all!
Matt
