During the month of October our focus will be on homelessness, and we are organizing two options for becoming aware of issues that affect homeless people, advocating on their behalf, and helping to serve them directly.
First, throughout the month we will be collecting tube socks for Operation Safety Net. OSN is a local organization that provides free medical care – “street medicine” – to people living on the streets of Pittsburgh. Dr. Withers, the founder and director of OSN, visited PTS last year for a discussion about his work and when asked, he told us that they are always in need of new, clean socks for their patients. For more information about the innovative work of OSN, visit http://www.pmhs.org/operation-safety-net/ or watch the documentary One Bridge to the Next, available for free at http://becausefoundation.org/films/bridge/index.php.
You can place your donation of tube socks in the box marked for “East End Co-operative Ministry” in the Shak. We will sort the socks from the food donations.
Second is the Sleep-in for the Homeless, Oct. 9-10. The “Sleep-In for the Homeless” is a public awareness fundraising event that benefits over 1,500 local homeless children, seniors, adults and families served through Community Human Services (CHS) homeless programs and housing services. The Sleep-In, an overnight event, features speakers, song-writers, local politicians, and homeless advocates. Many activities are planned for the event, including poverty simulations, street-rounds reaching out to the people living on the streets, and music and letter writing campaigns. More info at http://sleepinforthehomeless.blogspot.com/.
Unfortunately, Mike and Caitlin will both be out of town this weekend and unable to attend. If you are planning to go, please email us and we will help to get you in touch with other students who are going.
