Donate Homeless Survival Kits

In Nashville today we’ll experience a high of 31 degrees and a low of 18. We got our first taste of snow last weekend, which made me think of ways to help the homeless stay warm.

The City News station in Toronto reports that a group called Hockey for the Homeless raises money to help the homeless stay warm and helps raise awareness about the homeless. The group has also packed more than 1,000 homeless survival kits that they’ll donate to people who find themselves without shelter during this frigid season. (The high for Toronto today will be 14 °F and -10 °C).

If you live in Nashville and want to follow Toronto’s lead in the cause, consider creating some homeless survival kits with the following items included: mittens, socks, scarves, a sleeping bag and some personal hygiene products (combs, nail clippers, tissue paper, toothbrush and toothpaste, non-alcoholic mouthwash, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, razors, soap, hand lotion, chapstick, cotton swabs, aspirin or Tylenol). Kevin at The Homeless Guy helped me with the list of items. He also suggested including bus passes, phone cards, prepaid fast food/restaurant cards, can opener, water bottle, and a swiss-army knife.Take your homeless survival kits to the following locations that serve the homeless:

· Room in the Inn, 532 8th Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37202, 615-251-9791
· Nashville Homeless Power Project, 65 The Arc (in The Arcade downtown), Nashville, TN 37219, 615-733-0633
· Nashville Rescue Mission, 639 Lafayette Street, Nashville, TN, 37203, 615-312-1532

Here’s a post at A Homeless Man Speaks about the wonders of The Foot Warm-Ups. On the same blog, Tony also talks about how two women selflessly used their own bodies to keep him warm one night when he was asleep and they saw that his feet were blue.