Homeless and Low-Income Real Change Vendors work hard selling the weekly newspaper to their customers on the streets of Seattle. Amid the pandemic, the income that vendors depended on from selling the paper has instantly vanished. Without this income, vendors are struggling to meet their most basic daily needs including food, toiletries, socks, medicine, and more.
Getting creative, individual care packages can be created using anything from a gallon-sized or sandwich-sized bag, reusable wide mouth water bottles, nylon drawstring backpacks, or paper lunch or gift bags. High demand items to add inside of the package, at your discretion, include:
- Non-perishable food that is individually packaged and easily eaten without access to a microwave or stove, such as protein or granola bars, crackers, nuts, chips, beef jerky or sticks, dried fruit, peanut butter packets, fruit bowls, pop tarts, and more.
- Bottled drinks such as water or Gatorade, or emergency water pouches
- Reusable water bottle
- Cough drops
- Rain ponchos, disposable
- Shampoo/conditioner, travel size
- "Emergen-C" or Vitamin C packets to add to water
- Small or travel size hand soap or hand sanitizer
- "On the Go" Advil of two capsules per package
- Socks (adult)
- Knitted gloves (adult, unisex)
- Thermometers
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Deodorant
- Wet Ones (or any brand of antibacterial wipes)
- Clorox wipes
- Tissues
- Disposable gloves
- Washcloths
- Grocery store gift cards
- Hand warmers
- Drawstring backpack - this can also be used as the carrier to fill with the above, high-demand items
Once you have created your desired amount of individual Care Packages, you can simply put them in a box and mail them to our office at Real Change, 219 1st Ave. S., Suite 220, Seattle, WA 98104 for distribution.
If you would like to join this volunteer opportunity or have any questions at all, please reply to this post or email [email protected] for further details.
Real Change is a 501(3)(c) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible. We are happy to work with students looking to receive service-learning hours for this project, or anyone looking to receive credited volunteer hours.
About Real Change: Founded in 1994, the Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project is an award-winning nonprofit newspaper that provides immediate employment opportunity to homeless and low-income people throughout the Pacific Northwest. Highly regarded as the leading street newspaper in North America, Real Change provides a low-barrier employment opportunity to an average of 250 homeless and low-income individuals each month while challenging the structures that create poverty. We envision a just, caring and inclusive community, where people are no longer marginalized by racism and classism and have the means to live with dignity.