Christmas is here, and so is our Christmas in the Park event where we will give rolling suitcases and backpacks to our homeless neighbors. These gifts will be vital to their survival on the streets during the cold, harsh winter months. I’ve spoken to a number of you this past week who want to contribute, […]
Author Archives: Matt Salis
Your Gifts Save Lives – Christmas in the Park
If you live on the street in Denver in the wintertime, survival is a daily challenge. Our homeless neighbors have to carry all of their possessions with them everywhere they go, and having a place to store warm clothes is a matter of life or death.
Help Collect Rolling Suitcases & Backpack for Our Homeless Neighbors
We’re making progress, but we’ve got a long way to go. We are trying to collect 1,000 new or gently used rolling suitcases and backpacks to be gifted to our homeless Denver neighbors on Christmas Day in Civic Center Park. These rolling suitcases and backpacks are absolutely essential to the survival of our Denver residents […]
Community Service Project for Our Kids
Despite your best efforts and intentions, does the commercial side of Christmas overwhelm what it is really all about year after year? Are you worried that your kids are too focused on what they will get for Christmas, and they don’t have a passion for giving? For years, Sheri and I relied on increased bakery […]
We Live Here: It’s Our Responsibility
Our Stigmattack fundraiser for the Denver Public Schools Homeless Education Network ends this week. Have you helped the most vulnerable population in Denver yet? The weather this week is inconvenient for those of us with warm homes and reliable transportation. Just imagine if that inconvenience was suddenly a brutal, life-threatening disaster that required all of […]
Remember Us? We Still Care, Do You?
Remember back when we got to know each other, you and us? It was that bakery that brought us together, but we took it from there, didn’t we? We shared a piece of each other’s lives. We talked about the weather, our kids, things going on in the neighborhood. We became friends over the years, […]
Stigmattack!
Emily is a Certified Nursing Assistant with a good job and stable housing where she lives with her four kids under the age of six-years-old. The older children have settled in nicely to the new school year, and their path to a Denver Public Schools K-12 education is off to a great start. Without the […]
Are You Fueling the Stigma?
When I admitted to myself and my wife that I was a high-functioning alcoholic, I was filled with shame about my lack of control over my drinking and the damage I had done to our relationship. Do you want to know what was even more shameful for me in early sobriety? Being the only non-drinker […]
You Need New Luggage
Last year we brought 640 rolling suitcases and backpacks, and we ran out in under 30 minutes. It was more than two years ago, and we did our best. But our best wasn’t good enough.
Food is Going to Hungry Kids (Thanks to You!)
School has started, routines are reestablished, teaching and learning are happening and kids are battling hunger to get from Friday to Monday. Three of these four things are optimal. But hunger in a country with such excess food is appalling. Let’s not stand for it! Thank you to the many donors to our Backpacks that […]