R's project... necessity bags

R has always had a big heart. Not just regular big, her heart is BIG.

She has a special place in her heart for horses and other animals, of course, and this caring leads her to want to fill our barn and house with animals that need her. But she also feels very deeply for the homeless that we see when we go to Denver, and she spends an inordinate amount of time worrying about them, and wondering how she can help them.

She used to get frustrated with me because I almost never have any cash to share with the homeless we see, standing with their cardboard signs on city street corners, and I'm not really comfortable giving them cash even if I did have any. It may be judgmental of me, but after working so long in the FASD community (with it's overlaps with addiction related fields) I don't want to chance even unintentionally helping to support someone's addiction...

So several months ago I bought a huge box of granola bars at Sam's and we started handing them out instead of cash, and R felt better. (For awhile!)

We were in Denver a few days ago, and stopped and gave some granola bars to a couple asking for handouts on a street corner. As we drove away, R questioned why we couldn't do more... and then started asking (obsessing) about the woman's missing front teeth. We talked about how, when a person is homeless, it's hard to brush their teeth as often as they should (remember,  R is a VERY young 12 year old)... about how everything is harder and more complicated when you don't have a home.

So then she decided she wanted to do more than just hand out granola bars... One thing kind of led to another, and we ended up deciding to make "necessity" bags to keep in the car and hand out. 

(R really wanted to hand out blankets, but I had to veto that idea... We couldn't afford it, I just couldn't see driving around with a minivan full of blankets... and then trying to hand one or two of them out the window, quickly, before the light changed! It just didn't seem workable...) So yesterday the kids and I made up a list of little things that might be handy if you're homeless, went shopping for everything, and made up a bunch of bags.

I'll keep a supply of them in my car, and so will dh (and we'll probably hand a few out to friends who want to help), and then, when we are in Denver and pull up next to a homeless person standing on a corner holding a cardboard sign, we'll have something to give them...

First we went to the store and bought a bunch of socks, gloves, and other things for the bags. Next we stopped by our favorite dentist's office, and he was happy to donate a bunch of toothbrushes to the cause (R was still worrying about that woman's missing teeth!)  Then we came home and got to work.

First the kids got everything organized... R cut the tags off the gloves, M opened up the big multi-package of soaps.

We (they) decided to include a pair of warm socks, a pair of gloves, a razor, a bar of soap, granola bars, a toothbrush, a pack of gum, and a candy cane.

Once everything was organized, we filled the bags...

When we were done filling to bags, the kids signed a Christmas card for each bag and tucked them inside.

They can't wait for our next trip to Denver!

We have to be up there on Thursday... and I might just do a little extra driving, passing by some corners that are almost always "occupied", so we can pass out some bags.

The plan is to keep a supply of bags in the car year round. We'll watch for sales and shop the dollar store, and when we run out of these bags we'll make up a new batch (with the items inside reflective of the season!).

It was a good afternoon's work. R kept talking about how good she felt being able to help someone... and it is a great feeling to feel like you can do even something small, for people who have so little.