Our homeless outreach has been a staple outreach since the beginning of Hands4Hope. The Sacramento Homeless Outreach project started in June 2008. At the time, Jennifer Bassett, Founder and Executive Director, administered a survey asking youth participants involved at that time what areas of need they wanted to focus on. The homeless community was one of the top two choices.
The Sacramento Homeless Outreach always starts with food donations. A list of needed items is posted to the website and individuals or families select items they would like to donate and deliver them to the H4H Youth Center. On the day of the outreach, youth and adult participants sort the donations and make a plan for preparing the lunches and gathering other needed items for the outreach, such as socks and toiletries. They work as a team to pack the lunches and then pack the cars for caravaning down to Sacramento, near Loaves and Fishes. Before leaving the Youth Center, participants do quick introductions and discuss what to expect and safety guidelines for the outreach. Once in Sacramento, participants set up tables and organize distribution of food, drinks, and other basic need items in stations, manned by the youth and overseen by the adult mentors. The participants pass out the lunches, along with dog food, toiletries, sock, and blankets (during the cold months). The preparation for the outreach was originally done in the Mercy White Rock Village community center, then later moved to the Raley’s Community Room, and is now done in our Youth Center off of Embarcadero Drive.
The popularity of the Sacramento Homeless Outreach led into the Placerville Homeless Outreach, which started in 2009.
On average, each of the homeless outreaches have occurred nine times a year since they started. Since the beginning, Hands4Hope has facilitated over 120 homeless outreaches with over 1,500 youth participants, parents, and adult mentors,serving over 13,000 meals in the homeless communities of Sacramento and Placerville.
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