Home Van Newsletter 12/6/08

Happy Holidays to one and all! Below is a repeat of our annual call for Christmas stockings,
just as a reminder, and also for new people on the list. We will be giving them out on Tuesday,
December 23 at 7 p.m. in the downtown plaza. I would like to invite any of you who can to join us for this occasion. Some of you could help distribute socks (with several of our regular volunteers out of town, we are going to need help). Others might want to bring Christmas cookies, and maybe we could even have some Christmas caroling from those of you who can carry a tune - or even if you can't - it doesn't really matter. Let's turn it into a party! The Home Van parks in the little courthouse parking lot on the east side of the plaza, down from the former bus terminal.

CHRISTMAS STOCKING FOR OUR HOMELESS FRIENDS

With this newsletter, I am sending forth our annual call for Christmas
stockings for
our sisters and brothers who live in the woods and on the streets. This
year Rod and Julia
Rodriguez will be receiving the Christmas stockings, which we will deliver
on Tuesday,
December 23. Rod and Julia live at 934 SE 7th Avenue, in the only geodesic
dome house
on the block. They will be open to receive stockings every Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday
and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If those hours don't work for you, call
them at 338-3566 to arrange a dropoff time.

You NW Gainesville folks can also drop off Christmas stockings at United
Way 211 at 6031 NW 1st Place (near the Oaks Mall), with Jan Zak. People can
drop socks off there 9-5 M-F. They can call Jan at (352) 332-4636 if they
need directions, or want to drop them by a little later or a little earlier.

HERE IS HOW YOU DO IT:

Buy a pair of white tube socks. Roll up one sock and put it in the toe of
the other sock. Fill
the sock with Christmas presents and tie off the top. Ideally, each
stocking will have a combination of practical presents and fun presents.
Please don't put money, even a small
amount, in the stockings. Christmas comes at the end of the month when all
the disability check money is long gone, so it is very painful when some
people get money and others don't.

FUN PRESENTS: playing cards, little travel games (dominoes, checkers,
chess, Yahtzee etc.), little stuffed animals, scented candles, paperback
books, religious items like prayer cards and small crosses....

USEFUL PRESENTS: small personal hygiene products, reading glasses, phone
cards, pens and pencils, stamps, envelopes, notebooks....

TREAT FOOD: candy bars, Vienna sausages, tunafish, any canned meat, small
bottles of juice...

Some stocking stuffers may be geared more towards women, such as little pink
teddy bears and cosmetics. Labeling a stocking "Man" or "Woman" doesn't
work very well, though. The labels tend to fall off. Also, we are giving
these stockings away after dark in the downtown plaza so labels are hard to
see. People trade around, and often the guys who get such items as a
lipstick or a pink bear are thrilled to have a present to give their
significant others. So just let the Tao take over.

This is the fourth year we will be handing out Christmas stockings to our
homeless friends. It means so much to them! Also, nothing gives Christmas
a shine more than doing something beautiful for someone else. This is a
wonderful project for families, Sunday school classes, scout troops,
offices, dorms, volley ball teams.... Take it away!!!!

BLANKETS

This is the time of year when I get to be the blanket bore. We're doing pretty well for jackets and sweaters, but the need for blankets is endless. The weather pattern - it rains and then the temperatures nosedive - is worst case scenario for keeping a blanket going. Many homeless people are in tents that leak, and few tents are absolutely waterproof. So the blankets get wet and nasty and take forever to dry hung over a tree branch in the woods. So we always need more blankets.

Years ago St. Francis House used to let people go in and dry their blankets. Unfortunately, they did not have a large industrial dryer, and I think the expense of continually having to repair and replace dryers led them to discontinue this service. I know a lot of folks from the Homeless Coalition read this newsletter. Maybe you all could start the ball rolling to find funds to get a large industrial dryer for SFH and work with them to restore this service. It would make a big difference to a lot of people.

I want to express my gratitude for all of you who are continuing to bless our work this year. With the economy in a general nosedive I was apprehensive that we wouldn't have what we need to get our folks through the winter, but you all are continuing to be there for us. Blessings on you!

love, arupa
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With winter upon us, the Home Van needs small canned meats, like Vienna sausages. It takes a lot of protein to survive living outdoors in winter. We also need both regular and diabetic Ensure (or the generic equivalent) since many of our homeless friends are elderly. As always, we also need creamy peanut butter, jelly, white tube socks and candles. Financial donations to the Home Van should be made out to St. Vincent de Paul, earmarked for the Home Van, and mailed to 307 SE 6th Street, Gainesville, FL 32601. All donations are tax deductible.