Stigma

Christmas in the Park – Another Sellout

We were “sold out” again this year. We brought over 200 rolling suitcases to our annual Christmas Day event to serve our homeless neighbors, and we gave every single one of them away. We also brought 1,200 backpacks, so everyone in the park that day received multiple gifts to help them transport their belongings and survive on the cold winter streets.

All fall, we ask for your support. We ask you to donate rolling suitcases, and we ask you to donate money. And this year, as is the case every year, we are uncertain how we are going to pull it together, but you always come through for us in the end. Thank you for all who donated, and all who participated, to make this our most successful Christmas in the Park event ever.

A Long Way to Go

In less than three weeks, we will be giving the rolling suitcases we’ve collected to our homeless neighbors on Christmas Day. Our Christmas in the Park event takes place in Civic Center Park, and we are in the stretch run to be ready.

What’s this all about? Why rolling suitcases for the people least able to take a vacation? Watch this short video to understand our mission:

2nd Donation Location

Thank you to all of our Stigma supporters who have donated rolling suitcases, or money for us to use to purchase rolling suitcases and backpacks, for our annual mission to provide our homeless neighbors with a way to secure and transport their belongings. This is a life-saving project, and we couldn’t do it without you.

If you have rolling suitcases collecting dust in your basement or attic, we can put them to very good use. If you pick up a rolling suitcase or two while thrift shopping, we will get it into the hands of someone who desperately needs it.

Now we have two donation drop-off locations:

Rolling Suitcases for Christmas

After a pandemic-driven modified year of collection and distribution in 2020, we are back to normal in 2021. We will be sharing Christmas cheer by giving our homeless neighbors rolling suitcases and backpacks in downtown Denver on December 25th.

We need your help.

Do you have an old rolling suitcase or two you are willing to donate? Can you check your local Goodwill or ARC location for rolling suitcases? Maybe you can ask friends and neighbors if they have rolling suitcases they aren’t using. You might be surprised by how many rolling suitcases are collecting dust in attics and basements all across Denver. And who are they serving?

Attacking the Stigma of Hunger

Volunteers at the Food Pantry at DSST Cole

The school year is in full swing, and we are so blessed to have the students back live and in person. Education is just one of the many services we can provide for our youth in the walls of these school buildings. Helping crush the stigma of hunger by providing access to healthy food is a blessing that the connection of school makes possible.

Nourishing Students

Thanks to the support of stigma fighters like you, we are ready to go supporting five Denver Public Schools food pantries for the 2021/2022 school year.

When I visit food pantries across Denver, one thing leaves me full of concern: the lack of nutritional quality of the food. Many decades of harmful farm-subsidy policy has left us with a national crisis of cheap processed foods made from corn, soybeans and wheat. It is hard to blame the under-funded food pantries for stretching their dollars and buying lots of highly processed, shelf-stable food. But the result is we are feeding our kiddos – the ones who most need the nutrition to fight their way out of marginalized situations – a whole lot of crap.

Filing Cabinets Needed

Our fooding cabinet project to deliver our Neighborlies (emergency relief food bags) to our community is really taking off. We have five Fooding Cabinets deployed with plans to install several more this summer.

To make this project work, we need a volunteer to keep an eye on each cabinet – keeping it clean and stocked with Neighborlies (supplied by Stigma). But before we can get to the work of the volunteer, we need the raw materials – gently used two-drawer filing cabinets for our artist to paint.

The Attack on the Stigma Continues

As one school year winds to an end, we are ecstatic to announce we have been tentatively approved to receive a grant that will fund most of our food work for the 2021/2022 school year. The attack on the stigma associated with hunger continues!

You Don’t Need a “Problem” to Experience the soberevolution

We are all about crushing the stigmas that keep people locked into living life below their potentials because of societal norms, and cultural ignorance and pressure. We don’t have to have an addiction to have alcohol put unnecessary limitations on our lives. If you want more from your time on this planet, this opening weekend might just be for you.

Have you heard of the “soberevolution?” More and more people are waking up to the negative impact of drinking a poison for celebration, mourning and stress relief. And the movement is taking a giant leap forward this week here in Denver. Awake is opening for delicious, alcohol-free evenings.

Voluneer Opportunity: Assemble Neighborlies

So many of you have asked how you can help. Lots of our stigma-fighting friends have offered to help us put together Neighborlies (emergency relief food bags) when it is time to assemble the next batch.

Now we have two donation drop-off locations:

We need your help.

That time is now. This week. Friday, April 23rd at 9am at SAME Cafe.