Kit helps homeless survive the winter
Robert White Senior Correspondent
TORONTO, ON—Toronto’s winter will feel less harsh for the home- less who receive a Project Winter Survival kit. “If they get a new backpack and
a new sleeping bag, it’s like giving them a million bucks,” says Lenny Whelan, pastor at Street Connection Christian Church, one of the minis- tries which hands out the kits. “It’s like a new start for them.” Street Connection has taken part
in the survival kit distribution since it began. Tey usually hand out between 35 to 50 backpacks filled with things a person needs to survive the winter: hats, scarves, gloves, toiletries, linens and even a deck of cards. “Tey don’t expect half the stuff
that’s in there,” says Whelan. “Tey could end up having a complete change of clothes in there.” Project Winter Survival (www.
projectwintersurvival.org) rose out of Project Warmth, an effort by Toronto business leaders to solicit and distribute donations of sleep- ing bags. “Tey ran into a problem,” says Project Winter Survival’s Jody
Steinhauer. “Tey ran out of sleep- ing bags. Tey had to find a way to buy sleeping bags and came to me.” Describing herself as an “entrepre-
neurial philanthropist,” the president and founder of the Bargains Group saw a problem larger than the need for sleeping bags. Eventually she combined company and compassion and began Project Winter Survival. “An epiphany moment for me was
when a woman at Covenant House told me how they always needed socks and had to go and buy them. I saw that I could provide them with socks at 80 per cent of the cost.” Troughout the year, Steinhauer
"
...It's like giving them a million bucks. It's like a new start for them."
leverages the relationships the Bargains Group has with suppliers to get the supplies for the kits, e.g. asking the supplier of the 50,000 ski gloves the company bought to donate another 3,000. And she seeks cash donations to buy the
Jody Steinhauer (second from right) was inspired to start Project Winter Survival to help people living on the street.
items that haven’t been donated. In December, agencies are con-
tacted and send in applications for kits. Last year, agencies asked for a total of 12,000 kits but Project Winter Survival was only able to provide 2,500. Tis year, the tar- get is 3,000. Between 100 and 150 volunteers
put the kits together in a donated warehouse during two weekends in January and then deliver the completed kits to the agencies. “We’ve been asked to go nation-
al,” says Steinhauer. “I run two businesses already so I’m trying to figure out how to take this model and roll it out across the country.”
Volunteers pack kits to help the homeless survive the winter.
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6 • January 01, 2012 •
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45 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 900 | Toronto, ON | M2N 5W9 | Canada
Courtesy Project Winter Survival
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