Our 6th Annual Help the Homeless project may have been the most challenging, but also perhaps the most important. While we were unable to do our traditional outreach event in downtown Sacramento on Thanksgiving day, our volunteers and supporters still found a way to help hundreds of homeless people get the clothing and supplies they so desperately need this holiday season.
For years we’ve had more than 100 volunteers show up with clothing and supplies to hand out, but due to COVID we were not only unable to do our outreach event but unable to collect any used clothing items. So this year we had to depend solely on donations to gather new clothing and supplies – and you delivered!
Through a combination of individual donations, sponsorship, and a portion of the money raised from our online pumpkin carving contest we were able to raise over $3,000 plus hundreds of dollars of donated items that were purchased and shipped to us using the Amazon shopping list. In addition, our continued partnership with the Rock Creek Elementary School WE Club made a HUGE difference as they were able to coordinate an online campaign to have families assemble and donate nearly 300 hygiene kits (valued at $3,000) which enabled us to spend 100% of our donations on clothing and supplies.
In total, we delivered nearly 1,000 brand-new items on Thanksgiving day to three local homeless shelters including:
Hygiene kits
Sweatshirts
Jackets
Beanies
Shoes
Pants/belts
Underwear
Sweatshirts
Gloves
Tarps
Medicine
“I cannot express how humbled and excited we are for everything that was provided! The larger sizes were perfect! The shoes, vests, backpacks, tarps, medical items, socks, undergarments, and everything else has blown our expectations out of the water!!” Nick Golling, Director @ The Gathering Inn
Your support enabled us to support THREE local shelters between The Gathering Inn and Wind Youth Services that serve HUNDREDS of homeless men, women, and children every day from Sacramento to Auburn. EVERY DOLLAR and EVERY ITEM DONATED got directly into the hands of those who need it most.
Whether you donated money, purchased from our Amazon list, or just helped spread the word – you made a difference. We’d like to give a special thank you to our project sponsor, Incredible Family, as well as a number of Tower supporters who went above and beyond this year:
The Stephan Family
The Miller Family
Katy Pye
Wally Smith
Tom Sullivan
The Kaiser Family
Lynn Aust
And there’s no way this project would be successful without the determination of our Tower Team:
Tanis Perez – Project Coordinator
Holly Cable – Project Coordinator, Rock Creek Elementary
Mary Beth Miller, Jena Sprinkle, Krisa Radmilovic – Rock Creek Elementary WE Club
Callie Smith, AnnMargaret Dwyer, Hillari Bynum – Marketing
Melina Sanchez – Community Outreach
As challenging as this year has been for some of us, there are many that are enduring so much more. Take a moment to think of them, but also know that today you made a difference in the lives of hundreds of them. That’s hundreds of smiles and warmer bodies because of you.
Thank you for your niceness.