Stigma

Rolling Suitcases for Our Homeless Neighbors

Can you imagine what it would be like to have to take all of your possessions with you everywhere you go? For our homeless neighbors, that challenge is a reality.

That’s why we are honored to again be participating in Christmas in the Park – an event held on Christmas Day in downtown Denver in support and service of our homeless residents. Again this year, our role in this holiday event is to collect and distribute rolling suitcases to help our homeless neighbors navigate their lives on the streets.

We need your help in either of two ways.

Our Cupboards are Empty

Business is picking up. That is both exciting (it means the word is spreading about our emergency relief food bags we call Neighborlies), and it means the need for food assistance remains (sadly) very high in Denver.

What are You Doing Thursday Night?

Our friends at SAME Cafe have generously offered an incentive to all participants at our Open Mic night this Thursday, February 24th from 6pm to 8pm. Anyone who takes to the stage and shares your truth will receive two free meal tokens – one for you and one for a guest. If you’ve never eaten the culinary creations at SAME Cafe, now is your chance. Be heard by a warm and loving audience, and enjoy some of the finest cuisine Denver has to offer.

Open Mic Night

Do you have a story that your soul is itching to share? How about some poetry that is poised to land on eager ears? Do you play an instrument, sing, dance or tell jokes? Please join us for an Open Mic Night at SAME Cafe (2023 E. Colfax, Denver, 80206) on Thursday, February 24th from 6pm to 8pm. We would love to have you attend even if you decide not to step up to the mic because…

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.