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Warm Wishes and I would like to thank you for your participation in our 2001 campaigns. The growth and success of our program is because of caring people like you. Warm Wishes had its best year to date. Thank You. Stay tuned. Looking forward to your continued support in the future.
In preparation for this year, I personally volunteered between 500 and 600 hundred hours of my own time. Obviously, it is very rewarding for me or I would not do it. Some of my reward is being at the pulse of the organization and hearing all the excitement and enthusiasm from the volunteers. The other part is seeing the eyes and hearing the sincere "Thank you" and "God Bless You" from the recipients.
Warm Wishes Assembly Day had the help of over 200 volunteers. The volunteers filled Fanny Packs with gloves, socks, cap, rain poncho, and a holiday card. Everything was brand new. Volunteers were from 3 years old to 80 years old, and they assembled 18,000 items in 1 hours for our local distribution. Thats 18,000, not 1800, items in 1 hours. It again was a sight to see. What enthusiasm!
This year we began the Warm Wishes Art Project in many bay area schools. Counting the participating school children that made holiday cards for the street packs, volunteers and recipients, there were over 7,000 people touched by our program. We had over 250 people help us distribute street packs in December by literally going out into the streets for a one to one contact. There are 3,500 warmer and dryer people on the streets this winter.
Our distribution was in 4 different states, and we covered over 9 California counties from San Jose South to Lake County North and east to Placerville. We have the San Rafael Police Department carrying our street packs for nighttime distributions. In San Francisco, there are medical vans for homeless that hand out our street packs. In Napa, there is a church that knits caps for our street packs. The stories and connections go on and on.
A lot of volunteers are from groups including schools, churches, and specialty organizations. However, a big percentage of volunteers are families whose parents see the importance of showing their children how fortunate they are and knowing it will be sure to bear the fruit of compassion in the future.
It is still not to late to help us out financially. We have grown and now need year-round support. If you did not get a chance to send a check in December, please do so now because the ordering for next year's street packs is right around the corner. It takes up to 4 months for delivery, and that is one of the ingredients that makes our street packs so affordable.
Next year, Warm Wishes will be welcoming a new segment to our program--Warm Wishes Juniors. It will consist of children like yours that have shown a concern for the homeless children. If you feel your children, their school, or their organization might have an interest, please let us know.
Warm Wishes,
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