The Angel Feather Project

Yesterday I responded to a request for food by a single mom who was struggling. Turns out she had taken in her friends and their young daughter who have been living in their car. It was an incredibly kind thing for her to do, but she ran out of food for everyone faster than she had expected. When I asked her how many people she was feeding she responded, "I just care that the kids have some food." Today I was able to drop off groceries to them.
I was greeted by 2 very cute children who immediately discovered the candy bars that were hidden in one of the bags. When her mom tried to deter the 3 year old from opening the candy bar, she kept saying, "But I'm hungry!" Most of the time, when I hear a kid say that, I assume they are just trying to get at the chocolate, but I don't believe that was the case this time because as soon as the groceries were in the door and the mom said, "Are you hungry?" the kids flew into the house.

Thanks to your generosity, tonight they have milk, bread, eggs, peanut butter*, meat, veggies, fruit, cereal, and a lot more - enough to feed everyone till they can make it to the food bank. Today you not only fed 2 families, you returned the kindness this woman showed when she invited her friends into her home.

This is how we change the world... one unexpected act of kindness at a time.

*A huge thank you to the students at Tacoma City Ballet whose Christmas peanut butter drive continues to feed people even in June!

“We have seen a national trend of increased unsheltered homelessness. This study indicates that encampment sweeps are the wrong approach to this crisis. We must provide street medicine, medical outreach, substance use treatment, and harm reduction services, as well as focus on addressing the heart of the issue — these individuals need housing, not ongoing displacement. Too many individuals are losing their lives due to bad policy.” https://nhchc.org/media/press-releases/study-shows-involuntary-displacement-of-people-experiencing-homelessness-may-cause-significant-spikes-in-mortality-overdoses-and-hospitalizations/?fbclid=IwAR1UVXK9C1L2V7c9ao4xiX8XzyE6-DS6-ii74zywzCbQT_qzWpf3piYa1LM

Study Shows Involuntary Displacement of People Experiencing Homelessness May Cause Significant Spikes in Mortality, Overdoses and Hospitalizations Today the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a study that shows encampment sweeps, bans, move-along orders and cleanups that forcibly relocate individuals away from essential services will lead to substantial increases in overdose deaths, hospitalizations and life-threateni...

After Outreach today, I headed downtown to see if I might run into anyone who could use one of the backpacks of supplies we had left over. I ended up giving out 5 backpacks and the 2 sleeping bags I had forgotten were tucked behind a seat. I was about to drive off when I saw a man poke his head out of the tent he was living in near the Gospel Mission. I grabbed a backpack and headed toward him. When I asked him if he could use some supplies, he sheepishly said yes. As I got closer to him, I could see he was older and in really rough shape. I introduced myself and learned his name was Stan. He was wearing a light jacket and what looked to be a t-shirt, so I asked if that was the only jacket he had. It was.

You know how things just turn out the way they’re supposed to? Well, I still had a brand new, amazingly warm, fleece-lined jacket in my car. I told the guy I would be right back and dashed to my car to grab the jacket. When I got back to him he was carefully going through the contents of the backpack. He stopped when he looked up and saw the jacket I was carrying. You should have seen the look in his eyes. It was as if he couldn’t believe it was for him. He hesitantly took the jacket when I held it out to him, then he gave me a huge hug. I watched from my car for a few moments as he put the jacket on and zipped it up. As I drove away, Stan graced me with wave and a big smile. It was lovely.

So much of what we do happens quickly with little time to reflect on the human connection we make with the folks we interact with in the Jungle, but those few moments with Stan reminded me that what we do is not insignificant. Stan will be warm tonight because I was able hand him a gift that was given to me by someone over 1,000 miles away to be given to someone who she will never meet. He reminded me that everything we do at outreach is, in some way, always about connection .

A HUGE thank you to Tacoma City Ballet https://www.tacomacityballet.com/ for the peanut butter drive they are sponsoring for us and the Tacoma Emergency Food Network in conjunction with their beautiful rendition of The Nutcracker. I did my first pick up today - 150 jars of peanut butter!!! Deepest gratitude to the students as well for their generous gifts of warm coats for the folks we serve!

"The poorest of the poor"
That's who greets us with smiles every month and offers to unload the boxes of supplies in my car; who offers to share precious supplies with someone who arrived late; who takes food to someone too ill to get the food themselves. These are the folks it is my privilege to serve.
Sadly, since this time last year, we are now serving about 25-30 more people each time we do our monthly outreach and, as you might imagine, the numbers seem to keep growing. So I am standing here with my hand out again. If you have the ability and desire to help us to continue to try to do this very small thing to make life a little easier for our neighbors, I invite you to consider our Amazon Wish List. If you're not a big fan of Amazon, we can use anything similar purchased elsewhere. We can also always use Costco or Dollar Tree gift cards. Most of all, we are beyond grateful for any prayers or good thoughts you may send our way. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. We couldn't do any of this without you. ❤🙏❤

Check out my list on Amazon

A HUGE thank you to Tacoma City Ballet for supporting us this Nutcracker Season!!!

Dear Friends & Family of Tacoma City Ballet,
This Nutcracker Season we are collecting PEANUT BUTTER for The Angel Feather Project and Tacoma Emergency Food Network. Please donate a jar of PEANUT BUTTER this season.
We will collect it at the Ballet School and at the Pantages Theater - Tacoma during all Nutcracker performances. THANK YOU!

October Outreach was one for the books. We had so many supplies to take out, we couldn't get it all in my car! The timing was perfect since it's been bitterly cold here the last few nights. Folks were able to stock up on warm clothes & fire wood, eat some hot food, and even enjoy some Halloween treats!

We served over 100 chili dogs at Outreach today! Sadly, the number of people in need of food and supplies just keeps growing. Today we were able to provide clothes to someone who was naked except for an oversized sweatshirt. Thank you for making it possible for us to do that - as well as to provide all the other supplies she needed.

I was just considering how we were running low on shoes for the homeless folks we serve when I got an email from REI Olympia! The picture below is one of 3 boxes of boots & athletic shoes they donated to us - unprompted. HUGE kudos to REI!!! Big shout out to the Universe, too, for always coming through when we need it the most. 💖

Fed lots of folks and brought out many, many supplies.Practically nothing left. It was a very good day!❤️

May Outreach 2023 is in the books! Today, to our lunch offering included chicken ranch wraps, beef stew, PB&J sammies, hard boiled eggs, homemade cupcakes, coffee, and lemonade. In addition, we also were able to provide over 100 different types of survival supplies such as insect repellent and flashlights as well as some morale boosting things like books and art supplies. A HUGE thank you to everyone whose generosity makes what we do possible! (Sorry I didn't get more pictures. We just get so busy I always seem to forget.)

https://julieamanhan.wordpress.com/2023/03/05/then-and-now/

Then and now… Broken hearts and broken spirits. People cradling their pets under their coats to keep them warm in the below freezing temps. The sick, bundled up against the cold. Fear and frustration. And tears,…