This project is designed to help give some essential items to homeless people in San Francisco, and to hopefully let the people who receive the bag know that there are people who care about them.

About Homelessness:

What makes someone homeless?

Someone is considered homeless when they don’t have regular and adequate residence. While homeless people can be found sleeping on the streets, people who are forced to live with friends, their cars, or similar situations are also considered homeless.

Why are people homeless?

Homelessness arises when people are forced, for one reason or another, to choose between food, shelter, and other basic needs. It is rarely because of laziness and is usually based on complex situations.

• Lack of healthcare
  
• Domestic violence
  
• Mental illness
  
• Substance abuse
  
• Housing problems

How many people are homeless?

It’s difficult to say exactly how many people are homeless, considering that they can’t always be found, and homeless populations vary often. The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty states that there are about 2.3 to 3.5 million homeless in America. In San Francisco alone, there is an estimated 2771 homeless people, which means 1 in every 280 people living in San Francisco is considered homeless.

The Beginning of the Project:

It all started in 2006, when I was sitting around a table with some friends. Casually, I had the idea of creating bags with some essentials for the homeless. But, more than that, it was about the act of getting to pass the bags out and the ability to try and show people they’re cared about.

I had been volunteering with an organization in the Tenderloin and the thing I had noticed most was how much people in the area just enjoyed the fact these college students would stop and talk to them. We were people who weren’t ignoring them, and you could see how much they appreciated it. And, they had some really amazing things to say.

And so, what started as a casual idea discussed with friends became a reality. That year, with the help of friends and family, I was able to raise $500 and make 80 bags.
The next year, we raised $820 and were able to add more items to the bags, making 90 of them. My mother and I were able to talk to Kiera, a woman who had lived on the street for 2 years, but recently had found a room in an old hotel and was finally off the street. So many people couldn’t stop telling us how happy they were we were doing this. “God bless you today and everyday of your life,” one man told us. It was one man’s birthday and was glad to have been given a gift.

Last year, I was unable to go out during December, when I’d gone the past two years, because of a trip out of the country for school.

I am a recent college graduate from Santa Clara University. My primary career focus is on documentary, and I’ve always had an interest in issues dealing with poverty and homelessness. This summer, I will be interning with an organization that gives community services to those in need, where I will be creating a series of short documentaries to help tell the stories of the disadvantaged.

The Homeless Bag Project:

The project is designed to help give some essential items to homeless people in San Francisco, and to hopefully let the people who receive the bag know that there are people who care about them.

The items are placed in reusable bags, most often the reusable shopping bags, as to allow for whoever gets the bag to give a utilitarian purpose.

Last year, each bag contained:

• An apple
  
• An orange
  
• A cereal bar
  
• Animal crackers
  
• A can of nuts
  
• Hand sanitizer
  
• Baby wipes
  
• A towel
  
• A toothbrush
  
• Toothpaste
  
• A beanie
  
• A bottle of water

Once the bags are constructed, then they are boxed up and brought into the Tenderloin, where a large population of San Francisco’s homeless live. Once there, they are distributed to the homeless and disadvantaged in the area

How to help:
There are two major ways to help at the moment.

1. Monetary donations. The more money, the more bags can be created. Maybe people haven’t be able to donate as much as in the past due to these financial times, however as the homeless often say themselves, even pennies help. These can be either given directly to me or to the paypal account.

2. Bag donation. They don't have to be incredibly fancy or great, but just something that can be useful. For example, the new bags they're selling at most supermarkets are a great. But most anything around the house will do.

Because of the nature of the project, I prefer for all the items in the bags to be uniform. This is why I don’t ask for item donations. Going and getting the items myself allows for everyone to be helped equally.

If you can't help in those ways, but are still willing to do something, contact me and I'm sure we can figure something out. Please forward this to anyone who is interested. My email is alicialrice@gmail.com.