We want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your many contributions to the HeartWorks & YouthSpirit HelpingHands service project! WellSpringers of all ages donated money and items, made cards and blankets, and assembled all donated materials into 100 bags. These bags will go to unhoused folks in center city Philadelphia in a few weeks; we are working with Better Days Ahead to schedule a date.
So much of the work to make this project possible took place long before last week’s MLK day of service. All fall, WellSprings staff and volunteers from HeartWorks and YouthSpirit arranged for hats to be knitted, learned from advocates what items to request, acquired gift cards from area grocers, created ways to donate, stored items in their homes, dropped off and picked up supplies, took clothing donations, scoped out the planned delivery site in Philadelphia, and then moved and staged over 1000 items at the Montgomery School for the big event. Our HeartWorks team was the driving force that made the project possible.
Along the way, we discovered another outreach program that works with the unhoused, so an additional 20 bags were assembled and then delivered this past Thursday to another good neighbor in our area, Steven’s Bags. They typically deliver small, hand-decorated paper bags to people in need in the Kensington area – but were delighted to receive these string bags with provisions from WellSprings for the folks they work with.
Finally, if you’d like to help with the personal delivery of the remaining blessings bags in Philadelphia – we have an event planned for February, date TBA – please send an email so we can add your name to the list of folks planning to join us carolb@wellspiringsuu.org