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Spread the word about the joy of giving during this holiday season
By Deborah Taylor-Hollis
I am driving around with three sleeping bags in my car. And a large canvas bag with a pup tent. And another large bag with clean shirts. And another paper bag full of miscellaneous toiletries, paper towels, toilet paper, nail polish, used hair brushes, new toothbrushes, and jars and tubes of cleanser and shampoos and toothpaste.
There are four more bags next to those, filled with socks and underwear, children's clothes, long underwear, sweaters and slippers. Next to that is another bag with cans of food in it. I am just sorry I do not have a full bag of baby food, diapers, baby wipes, nasal spray, aspirin and children's Tylenol in it. But I will. I will make sure I do very soon.
I am driving around with this stuff because every day people are giving it to me, and I promised to make sure that it gets to the homeless. I am not the only one in my circle of friends doing this, and I have to admit, I was not the first.
Some friends were spending time on the streets of San Francisco every night, walking the Tenderloin, asking people if they needed anything. On their first night, several homeless campers on the cold streets declined anything they offered, and pointed them to folks in worse shape. One man, when offered a new sleeping bag, smiled and shook his head to decline, but asked them if they would like to share part of his sandwich while they were out working the streets.
My friends wrote about what they were doing to those of us on a group email list we all share, and the word spread. They talked about how easy it was for them to just drive downtown in the night, park where a group of people was gathered and start talking to them. My friend is very brave. He also started me thinking about the ease of, and the need for, giving.
The more I thought about it, the easier I realized it would be. There are lots of places open in the daytime willing to take donations and distribute them to those in need. I did not have to leave the house and take my son out into the cold at night--there were alternatives.
I called around and found that I could take anything I wanted to give to Sacred Heart Community Service at Alma Avenue and Monterey Road. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and even has a handy drive-up area.
So I went home to look around. I found a few things: a couple of sweaters, a few pairs of old shoes. I went to the store and picked up a few extra canned goods with the groceries and added them to the meager supplies in the back of my car. I went through all the bathroom stuff and pulled out the cute soaps my spouse brings home and the little shampoos and rinse.
And then my friends and I spread the word that food stamps do not buy medical supplies, bathroom needs and simple toilet articles. Three nights later, I went to a meeting for adults living with learning disabled family members, and every one of the 20 people in the room had brought a bag of something. I loaded them into the car. We had spread the word on the Internet, and meetings took on new meaning.
Two days later, I went to a luncheon with several old friends, and the gals all brought kids' clothes. A few days later I attended a business meeting of 35 people, and more than half of them brought stuff.
I am making runs to the shelter often these days, and to Second Harvest Food Bank, another nearby charity. Second Harvest can take anything from a couple of canned goods to a full truckload of fresh turkeys. It supplies as many food banks and homeless centers as possible.
As Thanksgiving weekend approaches, I will also be calling the post office, as I try to each year to be a Santa Letter writer--a person who "answers" those sweetly heart-tugging letters from kids who believe that all they need to do to fix all the terrors in their world is get a letter to Santa. Answering kids' letters, and sometimes even filling their requests for simple things: toys or items their families need, has always been wonderful for me to do. It makes the days before Christmas mean more than just shopping against a deadline. But this year, while I am waiting to get my first letters in the mail from the USPS folks, I will be going to a lot of meetings and filling the back of my car when and where I can.
Last year, the week after Thanksgiving, I watched all the fresh turkeys that had not sold at my grocery store just sit there ... until they were discounted to $5 each. I bought them all and gave them away.
Donate anywhere, any way you can and contact me at DTHollis@svcn.com to brag--please.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
