Greetings All!!
If you weren't with us this past Sunday, you missed the formal introduction to our summer mission project. Starting this week, I would like all of us to be about the task of collecting items for our "First Response Kits for the Homeless"...
During my summer class a month ago, we were discussing Biblical Narratives of the Hebrew Bible and we came across the story of Ruth and Naomi, at least the first two chapters... As we read through the story and discussed the tradition of "gleaning," I was struck by this notion and how it relates to some of the situations that the homeless find themselves in. In the instance of this biblical narrative, it seems as if Ruth and Naomi have found themselves to be without many resources and find themselves 'gleaning' the leftovers from the barley harvest in order to eat.
As I was thinking about the homeless folks here in Wichita, it occurred to me that the majority of them engage in some act of gleaning just to stay alive. There are many ways that we can respond to the needs of the homeless, but it struck me that perhaps, on some foundational level, we should at least make an attempt to provide some simple resources for these folks in their time of great need. Wichita has a number of ministries that provide meals and occasional shelter, and we, as United Methodists have ministries like the United Methodist Open Door, but what happens when the doors close at 5:00 each night or when the doors are closed on the weekends??? ( I would say that we close the door on these homeless folks in a number of other ways, but I'll leave that soap box for another post) Sooo... in light of all of these thoughts, and this text, I thought it would be fruitful for us to start providing some sort of first response relief for the homeless population in Wichita. As an attempt to bring that relief, Julie and I, with the help of several others, have collected some things that we think might bring relief, at least short term, to the homeless population. Please understand that this is a work in progress and we expect that we will have to adjust the contents of these Ruth Kits at some point... so we look forward to your input and comments.
Originally my goal was 25 kits, but after being at the Homeless vigil the other night, I think our goal should be somewhere around 1000. The content of the kits can be found here... please note that there are subtle differences between the male and female kits. Julie and I purchased all of these items (except for the gift cards and bus passes) at Target, and most of them came from the travel size area of the Health and Beauty section of the store. We invite you to participate in any way you can... in addition to providing complete kits we would also appreciate a supply of any one item that would add to the building of the kits or a financial contribution to help with the purchase of the string packs and other bulk items. In addition to the primary contents of the kit, we are also in need of large and small ziploc bags, kitchen size trash bags, and bottled water. We would also invite you to participate by providing $10.00 gift cards from McDonald's and Quik Trip, as well as single ride city bus passes.
After we compile a number of these kits, we will embark on a process of distribution and would invite your particpation in that as well. Thanks in advance for your participation in this mission project...
Looking at the list of items, I wonder if there are bulk purchasing opportunities here. Actually, of course they do, we just need to find them.
Surely this isn't new ground for some charitable organizations somewhere. Red Cross seems like a perfect first stop - does anyone have a connection there? Surely they have a short list of sources for buying 1,000 small tubes of toothpaste direct from a manufacturer or distributor.
Also, I wholeheartedly suggest we follow the Rotary Club's tradition of swiping all disposable goods from all hotels we stay at and giving them to the poor. Soaps, mouthwash, etc etc. They justified it to me as items that are included in the cost of the room, and are assumed to be used by anyone staying there. So let's all grab 'em.
Posted by: Chris Eden | July 23, 2007 at 11:56 AM