An October conversation with Grace Rodriguez, my contact at Hope for Homies:
“Grace, I know that you have lost some food donations this year. The LWVSC is going to start two food drives for Hope for Homies for Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
“Nadine, that would be great. Thank you. We appreciate the help so much.”
November 20: Fast Forward to our November All Member meeting
Members came to the November meeting with a substantial load of dry goods. Thanks to all the members who contributed and helped me get that haul to my car. Whew!
November 21: A phone call to Grace:
“Grace, I have a wonderful problem today! The back of my car is full of food donations. Woot! But I need to get it out of my car ASAP. Can I bring it to Hope for Homies’ Everett Office TODAY?
“Oh, that won’t work today, Nadine. We are all out and about and there will be no one there to help you. If you bring it to my office at the Tulalip Recovery Resource Center, they can receive it, and they will help you unload.”
The Tulalip Recovery Resource Center. A quick tour of the facility revealed an impressive program to support people recovering from fentanyl addiction. The Recovery Center regularly refers people to Hope for Homies for additional assistance. Kali, Jacqueline, and Avel helped me bring in the donations and happily took a moment to pose for a picture for our Newsletter.
November 24: A phone call from Grace:
“Nadine. Oh my! We are so grateful. Please thank the members of the League for us. We lost the food donations from VOA due to budget cuts. For weeks, we have not been able to deliver food to people in homeless encampments and pallet houses as a result. Your donations will make it possible for us to get food to those who desperately need it. Thank you so much.”
This is how we as a community stand and deliver. Seriously, LWVSC rocks. The League is moving into different areas of service while we expand our notion of our actual community. We are defending democracy by helping those less fortunate and often marginalized. This food drive is essentially an expression of our commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the most basic subsistence level.
Remember that we will have another drive for our
December All-Member Holiday Gathering for food for the Christmas Holiday. One LWVSC member asked me to determine if there were other ways to contribute to Hope for Homies’ work. I asked Grace about this, and she said that there were two other ways to contribute.
If you wish to write a check:
Second Chance Outreach
DBA Hope for Homies
PO Box 1186
Stanwood, WA 98292
If you wish to donate online click
here:
Thanks, y’all. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas. See you all in December.