July 14, 2010 Lois Friedland from About.com Adventure Travel just posted a great article about Homeless Gear! Check it out! http://adventuretravel.about.com/od/adventuretravelbasics/qt/Donate-Old-Gear-To-Homeless-Gear-And-Help-Keep-The-Homeless-Warmer-On-Cold-Days.htm
May 1, 2010 Homeless Gear celebrates the second year anniversary of its founding. So far we have distributed over 12,650 of the “big 8″ items and continue to work hard to help the homeless of Colorado in their battle with the elements!
April 26, 2010 “In the eight years I have been working with the homeless in Fort Collins, I have unfortunately seen members of the homeless community die of exposure each year and numerous others suffer from frost bite that ultimately lead to loss of fingers, toes, feet, and even legs. However, this winter we have seen a significant reduction I those suffering from hypothermia and frostbite. Even more important, we did not lose a single individual to exposure this winter and I believe this is a direct result of programs like Homeless Gear. Homeless Gear enables us to make sure that the people we work with everyday have at least the bare essentials to stay alive. While I have no way of knowing exactly how many lives have been saved by Homeless Gear, I have no doubt that their efforts have spared countless people the suffering of frostbite and potentially death.”
Zachary Penland, B.A.
Program Supervisor
The Murphy Center
April 23, 2010 Homeless Gear participates in the first ever Homeless Connect event in Fort Collins bringing together service providers of all types to help the homeless! Despite the heavy rain well over 200 people came to receive gear, hair cuts, food, health screenings, and many other services.
December 12, 2009 The Children In Need team held their first distribution today. 87 families came and received over 700 articles of clothing, bedding and footwear. The CIN program helps homeless and near homeless children and their families.
December 10, 2009 HG distributions for 2009 for the “big 8″ items (sleeping bags, sleeping bag pads, backpacks, day packs, tents, coats, boots, and blankets) have exceeded 6000 units! Our goal was 3,000! This is just 8 items of the 40 that we collect and distribute. Thanks for all of your help and support to make this possible!
November 16, 2009 HG issues our first grant to H.O.P.E. for the pupose of purchasing outdoor gear for the homeless of Longmont. HOPE is a street outreach program that goes out every night to bring food, clothing, outdoor gear, and resource advice to the homeless of Longmont.
November 9, 2009 HG opens a clothing bank (clothing essentials, baby needs, hygiene items, and some household items) at the Murphy Center in FC which will also serve as the base of operations for our Children In Need Program. Monthly distribution “events” for homeless families will begin in December. See the Children In Need page of our website for more details.
November 1, 2009 Homeless Gear teams with Everyday Joe’s to hold our first distribution in Denver. We served nearly 200 people in need with winter clothing, sleeping bags, and other gear essentials.
October 30, 2009 Homeless Gear is honored by Group Publishing with the Larimer County Community Service Award and and $3,000 grant to use for purchasing outdoor gear and clothing for the homeless!! Our sincere thanks goes out to Group Publishing for for providing us with this wonderful donation and support!!!
October 18, 2009 Homeless Gear announces Heidi Hood as our new Children In Need Program Coordinator. We are forming a new HG subgroup to specifically focus on the needs of homeless children and their families. Our first goal is to organize a monthly clothing, gear, and hygiene distribution in Fort Collins for homeless and near homeless families (we have been holding monthly distributions for the adult homeless population for over 16 months now). Future plans include an expansion of this program to other areas of Colorado served by HG. Stay tuned and thank you for all of your support and encouragement!
October, 2009 Bean & Bean and His Place Coffee Shop are holding an Art Auction with all proceeds going to Homeless Gear to help purchase outdoor gear, outdoor clothing and hygiene items to benefit the homeless of Colorado. The auction will be at 103 West 4th Street in Loveland, Colorado on October 24th at 7:00 PM. We want to thank Lisa for coordinating, Stephanie for hosting, and Bean and Bean for managing this event.
October, 2009 The CSU Challenge Course is hosting an open house to benefit Homeless Gear and the homeless of Colorado. A $2 donation or a used gear item gives you the chance to challenge yourself on a 40-foot climbing tower or take a 20-foot drop off Giant’s Swing. The open house is on Sunday, October 11th from 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM at the Colorado State Challenge Course in Fort Collins, Colorado! Thanks to Ray Aberle and his staff for all of their support for HG and the homeless of Colorado!
September 1, 2009 Homeless Gear holds its first distribution aimed at helping some of the 700+ children within the Poudre School District that have been identified as homeless. Today representatives from 3 schools with the highest rates of homelessness came to our warehouse and selected items from our inventory that could benefit the kids from their schools that are in need. Did you know that the average age of a homeless person in Colorado is 9? Did you know that 60% of the homeless of Colorado are families? We are working hard to gather and distribute items that are appropriate to fill the needs of all segments of our homeless population.
August 22, 2009 This is the date that Everyday Joe’s from Fort Collins will take the Homeless Gear mission ”on the road” by doing a gear distribution in Springfield, MO!!! They will team up with a local homelessness organization “The Kitchen” from Springfield to provide gear, coffee, and bike repairs to those in need. Click on this link to learn more about this collaborative effort to help the homeless of Springfield: http://www.appendixej.com/2009/07/27/everyday-joes-is-going-to-missouri-needs-your-gear/. Thanks to the great folks at Everyday Joe’s for everything they do for our community and for organizing this fantastic event!
July 2, 2009 Homeless Gear coordinates another national match (this time in Laguna Hills California) between a gear donor and a local homeless shelter. Our goal is to keep gear as close to it’s “home” as possible to help the homeless in that area. Previous national matches include Seattle WA, Frederick MD, Charlotte NC, Burlington VT, and Asheville NC.
June 29, 2009 HG makes it’s first gear donation to Feed My Sheep in Glenwood Springs. This gear came as a result of a promotional drive by Mountain Outfitters of Breckenridge Colorado–big thanks to Chris and his crew!
May 17th, 2009 Deliveries were made this week to our two newest partner facilities; Homeward Bound in Grand Junction and Springs Rescue Mission in Colorado Springs.
May 15, 2009 Lippi USA (www.Lippioutdoor.com) and Chaos (www.chaoshats.com) join Kelty (www.Kelty.com), REI (www.REI.com/stores/49), Sierra Designs (www.Sierra-Designs.com), BAP (www.wearBAP.com), Big Agnes (www.BigAgnes.com), Resilite (www.Resilite.com), Proforma (www.Proforma.com/butterfield), and HELP International (www.Helpint.org), as corporate sponsors/donors for Homeless Gear! Please support these companies as they offer quality products & services and are helping those in need!
May 1, 2009 HG celebrates its one year anniversary. In our first year we were able to collect and distribute 3,536 tents, backpacks, day packs, sleeping bags, sleeping bag pads, blankets, coats, and boots (plus lots of other misc. gear). Thanks to all of our volunteers, corporate sponsors, service providers and countless numbers of individual & group donors of gear!
March 24, 2009 HG expands it’s coverage to include Colorado Springs by teaming up with the Springs Rescue Mission as our newest drop off location!
March 16, 2009 HG connects with Andy Brazelton and receives support from his amazing blog site www.outsideallday.com. Thank You Andy! This site is loaded with great information on all sorts of outdoor activities. Check them out!
March 15, 2009 Homeless Gear sets up a page on Facebook. Become a “fan” of Homeless Gear today!
March 2009 Homeless Gear opens a chapter in Loveland!! A team of dedicated volunteers headed by Pam and Brian Day are focusing the HG mission to meet the needs of the homeless in Loveland and the surrounding area. A special thanks goes out to Loveland Coffee (drop off location), Orchards Athletic Club (gear drive), and Faith Church (gear drive) for being early contributors to our effort to help the homeless.
January 1, 2009 Thanks to everyone who helped us to collect and distribute the following major items of gear in our first 8 months of operation in 2008: 43 Tents, 80 Full Sized Backpacks, 406 Day Packs, 152 Sleeping Bags, 137 Sleeping Bag Pads, 177 Blankets, 440 Coats, 247 Pair of Boots, as well as ”tons” of misc. clothing and other outdoor gear!!! With your continued support we are moving full speed ahead to provide even more gear to help the homeless in 2009!
December 9, 2008 9 News features Homeless Gear. Read the Article & See the Video.
November 15,2008 Kelty becomes a corporate donor for Homeless Gear with donations of sleeping bags, packs, coats, cots, and other outdoor gear.
November 1, 2008 REI becomes the third Fort Collins drop off location (first Saturday of every month from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM starting November 1st) and will promote the Homeless Gear drop off program on the calendar & events page of their website. Volunteers from Homeless Gear will be on hand in front of the store to accept gear donations and answer any questions.
October 19, 2008 Bryce Weaver plans, promotes, and coordinates a gear drive at the FC REI store as part of his Eagle Scout Project. Scouts (boys and girls) do great things to help our community and those in need! Thanks Bryce!
September 10, 2008 REI Fort Collins becomes a corporate donor for Homeless Gear with donations of tents, sleeping bags and other outdoor gear.
September 5, 2008 Homeless Gear and HELP International team up to add food and clothing to the list of goods provided to the homeless and homeless resource centers throughout Colorado.
September 1, 2008 Homeless Gear launches a national matching program. We now provide a matching service to gear donors that are not located near one of our Colorado drop off centers. We will do the research, make qualifying contacts, and provide out of state donors with a local facility that will distribute their gear to the homeless in that area. Now all donated gear can stay local to help the homeless across the country!
August 15, 2008 Homeless Gear now has drop off locations in Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder and Denver.
May 22, 2008 Outside Magazine Blog Site posts comment about Homeless Gear.
Camping Gear for the Homeless
That quilted nylon sleeping bag is getting old, and you need something new. So give your old gear to a group that actually needs it: the homeless. A new organization, Homeless Gear, collects donated camping equipment, mainly sleeping bags and backpacks, for people whose “home” is a car, under a bridge, a campsite by an urban river.
While sleeping in a shelter would be preferable, a segment of the homeless population still winds up out-of-doors. Even people who do spend the night in shelters may shiver on the streets during the day, and could use a hardy bag to transport their belongings. Can you think of a better destination for your old North Face gear?
–Emily Matchar
May 21, 2008 “Jake” receives a backpack and sleeping bag for his upcoming hitch-hiking trip to Alabama where he hopes to find work. Thanks to our donors. You are making a difference one person at a time!
May 15, 2008 Homeless Gear teams up with the House of Neighborly Service to help meet the needs of the homeless in Loveland! The House of Neighborly Service is serving as both a drop off location and a point of distribution for Homeless Gear. To learn more about this great organization click on this link www.fortnet.org/HNS/services.html
May 7, 2008 Homeless Gear gains 501c3 status as a program of the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado www.CommunityFoundationNC.org .
April 28, 2008: Homeless Gear drops off sleeping bags and packs to three distribution sites in Fort Collins and in turn the gear starts to be handed out to the homeless. As we move forward our goal is to reduce the amount of time between the collection of a donated item to the receipt of that item by the homeless to the shortest time span possible.
April 22, 2008: Homeless Gear receives its first donation of gear!! We want to thank Educo Colorado for their donation of 6 sleeping bags. Educo Colorado is a leading non-profit outdoor leadership school based in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Learn more about Educo at www.EducoAdventures.org.
