Did you know that right now there are over 8,000 people experiencing homelessness in King County?  And in these tough economic times, even more folks are losing their homes.

One way United Way of King County is helping is by hosting its fourth Community Resource Exchange (CRE) on September 11th, 2009.  The CRE is an event where people experiencing homelessness can come and receive a wide variety of services all in one place and in one day.  In the past, over 1,000 families and individuals have benefited from services such as haircuts, medical care, and legal support.

[You can read more about what the Community Resource Exchange is here]
 

A major part of this event is making sure all our guests leave with a care package filled with essential goodies.  We’re aiming to collect 1,500 of the following items:

• New socks
• New underwear
• New/used backpacks
• New travel-sized toiletries (shampoo, soap, razors, deodorant)

We are able to make these packages by connecting with workplaces, places of worship, and other community groups and getting them to run donation drives on our behalf.

This post today is here to try to convince you to organize a donation drive with your friends/coworkers/community.
 

So here we go.  Why should you take charge and organize a donation drive?  Well…

1. Because it helps A LOT!
The items we’re collecting are all things that we normally don’t think about.  I mean, can you imagine not having a clean pair of socks to put on every day?

Having things like a fresh pair of socks can make a huge difference in person’s life.  Conversely, coming together with your congregation and donating a few pack of socks doesn’t seem like much at all.  How could you not want to start a donation drive?
 

2. It’s Easy!
We’re not asking you as an individual to give much — we’re asking you to utilize power in numbers.  If everyone at your workplace gave a pack of travel-sized toiletries or a backpack they no longer needed, think about how much of a snowball effect that would have.

You just need to be the one to step up and start the drive.  If everyone does a little, it’ll accomplish a whole lot.
 

3. It Brings People Together!
It sounds cheesy but it’s true!  At the United Way of King County offices, we do our own little underwear drive and we pit departments against one another to see which team can collect the most underwear.  It gets pretty fun when you’re in a friendly competition.

Also cheesy: you are competing to help other people.  In the end, everyone wins!
 

4. You get to be a Part of the Community Resource Exchange
I don’t know how to emphasize how helpful the CRE is.  And really, it’s not like reading what I have to say would be very convincing.  Instead, I highly suggest you read the story of Rick – someone who was able to come to the CRE and get a tremendous amount of help.

He wasn’t able to find housing from the first agency he spoke with but because there were many other providers there, he was able to connect with another organization and was able to find a place to stay.  After that, he got things he didn’t even originally come for: a haircut, a voicemail account, a savings account, and much more.  You can read the full (better written) story here.

With the help of people like you, we can make sure people like Rick leave with awesome care packages.
 

So that’s why I think that you should start a donation drive.  Did I convince you (please say yes)? If so, you can register to organize a donation drive here:

https://volunteer.united-e-way.org/uwkc/survey/?survey_id=10325739972

If you have any other questions, just email me at CRE@uwkc.org.