Real Change and UW Donate to SVdP

Earlier this week, we saw a call for help online from Real Change, a unique news outlet aimed to “provide opportunity and a voice for low-income and homeless people while taking action for economic justice.” Real Change was the recipient of a donation from the University of Washington of toiletries and emergency survival backpacks for their vendors, but they were unable to transport the donation. St. Vincent de Paul offered our one of our donation pick up trucks and a driver to pick up the donation from UW and deliver it to the Real Change Vendor Center, since their mission closely aligns to our mission to help the poor.

Much to our surprise, when we were delivering the donation to Real Change, they offered us a pallet of 164 of the emergency backpacks. We grateful accepted this donation and will hand these out in our Georgetown Food Bank at FACES of SVdP program starting next week. St. Vincent de Paul provides Food, Assistance, Compassion and Emergency Services (FACES) to our homeless neighbors every Friday at our Georgetown Food Bank from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

We began FACES of SVdP earlier this year in an attempt to address the hunger issues among our homeless guests, who often struggle to make their limit food supply last through the weekend. In a recent survey of Real Change’s vendors, they reported that 43% of their vendors are currently homeless and 49% reported that they have previously been homeless. We hope that some of the Real Change vendors visit us and utilize our services to hopefully help make their struggle a little easier. If you wish to donate food, clothing, personal hygiene items, or money to support the St. Vincent de Paul Food Bank, please visit https://svdpseattle.org/food-bank-donations/.

Thank you, University of Washington, for supporting our neighbors in need by donating to Real Change, and thank you Real Change for supporting our efforts to help our struggling homeless friends.