PROJECT DIGNITY FOR ALL – OUTREACH # 10 (Saturday, June 29, 2019)
We woke up bright and early on the first day of the Canada day long weekend. The weather forecast was calling for sunshine in the morning and clouding over in the afternoon. Saturday, June 29th was to be the day for Outreach # 10. We had already sorted and organized all the clothing this past week, so we prepared the coffee, filled up the car with all our supplies and headed downtown at 10:00 AM. We had a whole trunk full of women’s clothing and footwear, and only about 15 items of men’s wear!
When we passed by the Shepherds of Good Hope, we noticed that there was hardly anyone around. The streets were already full of parked cars, seemingly because of the holiday weekend. We then headed over to our usual spot in front of the Salvation Army and set up the table for coffee. Again, we noticed that there were much fewer people around. While some of the men started helping themselves to coffee, we placed the few men’s items we had on the rack.
In no time at all, the rack was empty! There were no women around, so we left the women’s clothing in the trunk. We think that there was so much going on downtown this weekend, that many of the usual people were probably wandering around taking in the sights and sounds of Canada Day! After about 90 minutes, we packed up and headed back home. We had some lovely interactions and laughs with some of the guys, so it was still a successful day!
One thing we chatted about on our way home, is that the need for men’s clothing and footwear is much higher than the need for women’s items. The reality is that men make up a much higher percentage of the homeless population compared to women! At this point, we have absolutely no men’s items whatsoever! Our next outreach is planned for Saturday, July 14th. If anyone is planning on purging some men’s clothing, if anyone is planning on cleaning out their closets or already have some men’s clothing put aside to give away, please think of Project Dignity for All! We will gladly come to any location to do a pickup. Only through ongoing generous donations can we continue to help in the personal way we do!
We want to thank each and everyone one of you for every and all donations! Without all of you, we couldn’t do what we do!