{"id":40286,"date":"2017-11-27T10:41:40","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T17:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=40286"},"modified":"2021-02-07T19:04:42","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T02:04:42","slug":"shelters-seek-donations-to-help-homeless-ward-off-winters-chill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2017\/11\/27\/shelters-seek-donations-to-help-homeless-ward-off-winters-chill\/","title":{"rendered":"Shelters seek donations to help homeless ward off winter’s chill"},"content":{"rendered":"

H<\/span>omeless shelters in Calgary are currently taking donations of winter clothing to give to those living on the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Our main push right now is our Frosty Bite Kits,\u201d said Shanika Abeysinghe, the communications specialist at the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre Society.<\/p>\n

Frosty Bite Kits are created from donations that include mittens, toques, wool socks, scarves, pocket warmers, lip balm, and hand cream \u201cto prevent frostbite,\u201d Abeysinghe said in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always taking donations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The drop-in centre is currently seeking winter coat donations but is receiving help from several community partners including the Baby It\u2019s Cold Outside Charity, which has a clothing drive with partners all over Alberta.<\/p>\n

Abeysinghe said they also need donations for Fill-A-Sock, where clients receive a sock filled with items such as lip balm, hand lotion, travel mugs, hand warmers, deodorant, underwear, razors, transit tickets, and candy.<\/p>\n

\u201cFill-A-Sock is tied to the holidays. Clients receive a sock on Christmas morning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

There are many ways the public can volunteer in the winter and one should \u201ccheck out the\u00a0website<\/a>,\u201d Abeysinghe said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do open our doors to anyone who needs shelter and collaborate with other organizations to find people places to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inn from the Cold\u2019s communications specialist, Kara Layher, said when comparing the summer months to winter, the shelter has had to open up its overflow shelter at Knox United Church almost 20 times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have put out the call for warm clothing, particularly for children, along with diapers and other baby supplies, and cash donations,\u201d Layher said.<\/p>\n

When cash donations are made, the donor can specify where to direct the funds under five different categories, which include area of greatest need, operations, meal sponsorship, journey house, and other.<\/p>\n

Layher said\u00a0Inn from the Cold<\/a>\u00a0provides homeless people with donated \u201cnecessary winter items,\u201d which include boy\u2019s and girl\u2019s winter snowsuits, coats, snow pants, men\u2019s and women\u2019s winter coats, and sweaters of all sizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are only able to accept\u00a0new items due to health and safety policies,\u201d the shelter\u2019s website said on the donation page.<\/p>\n

Layher said Inn from the Cold offers basic shelter as well as health and wellness services to all of its clients.<\/p>\n

We offer shelter, sanctuary and healing to families experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity in Calgary. -Kara Layher<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the winter months, Layher said there are many ways for the public to volunteer including meal services and administration assistance.<\/p>\n

She said one can find out more about volunteering at Inn from the Cold on its website.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homeless shelters in Calgary are currently taking donations of winter clothing to give to those living on the streets. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":447,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S4 Wintry Weather","footnotes":""},"categories":[1106],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-physical-health-and-wellness"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/447"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40286"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40901,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40286\/revisions\/40901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}