How to help Calgary Homeless

I was informed by the staff of the Drop in and Rehab centre, that their shelter clients are in great need to hygiene items and warm clothing.

I will be setting up a booth in Fairmount Sobeys on Sat July 18 from12pm to 8 PM.  The items collected will be 100% donated to the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab center's cleints.
 

The DI center has the Funded Shelter Capacity of 1250 individuals. Their website is <http://thedi.ca/>

One of the main reasons I decided to participate in the Miss Canada Int'l (MCI) competition was to be able to help the Homeless. I thought getting a title would make it easier to help these unfortunate people and would give me a stronger platform to be the voice of the underprivileged.

I truly want to clear out some of the stereotypes surrounding the Homeless people:

-Homeless people are homeless not because they are LAZY, but due to circumstances they have have no control on like Corporate mergers, plant transfers or shutdowns, layoffs and economic conditions. All these factors greatly affect their situation. Also their wages isn't high enough to make the ends meet. According to the statistics taken by the DI centre, 50% of these people have either a part time or full time job, but are unable to afford rent (let alone utility deposits,food and clothing costs)

-Around 30% of the shelter clients are suffering from some kind of addiction, but these people DO NOT seek employment only to buy alcohol and drugs. Some of them may use their income toward their addiction though.They may go back to their addictions because they feel overcome by their problems.-many of the shelter clients suffer from marital breakdown, loss of jobs,depression, high levels of stress/anxiety, and addictions.

 

Personal Hygiene:

 Shampoo, Conditioner, Shaving Cream, Toothbrushes, Toothpastes, Deodorant, Feminine Hygiene Products

Clothing: Men’s Jeans and shorts (USED ITEMS ARE OK) , WOMEN/Men’s Shirts(USED ITEMS ARE OK), Men’s Underwear and Socks (ONLY NEW ITEMS ACCEPTED)

THE MAJORITY OF SHELTER CLIENTS ARE ABOVE THE AGE OF 30 AND ARE MEN.