Softer Streets

Many thanks to the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation in Marietta GA for funding 26 sleeping mats and a bunch of giant warmers, and to The Way church of Woodstock GA for opening their hall as a warning center for unsheltered people. We arrived with our delivery just as they ran out of sleeping mats that had been borrowed from another church. Not only do their guests have a comfortable mat to sleep on tonight, but they get to take them with them tomorrow. I love the sign as parishioners leave the church’s parking lot.
PS shout out to Denver CO, where we only found 2 unsheltered people despite hours of looking, because they opened a bunch of warming centers and even the stadium. Atlanta, please take note.

More than a little humbled that L.V. offered me a few dollars when I told him my purse had been stolen so I couldn’t give him any. Most people are so great. LV told me he can’t sleep in a tent due to claustrophobia from PTSD, so “the first thing I do every morning is start looking for cardboard to sleep on that night.” Now he won’t have to anymore. LV introduced me to several of his friends, who now also have our sleeping mats. “People donate a lot of things,” he said, “but these? NOBODY gives us these.” They do now, LV. We parted ways as he took orders for food he was going to buy his friends with his day’s panhandling earnings. May we all be so generous this holiday season. If you’d like to join us, $15 helps one person who is unsheltered for any reason. Www.softerstreets.org