Act of Kindness Homeless Gift Bag
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I’ve shared with you in the past how my family has a tradition of creating care packages for our community on Thanksgiving. It’s a tradition that has become a cherished part of our family’s Thanksgiving day activities. Many years we create care packages for the homeless just like this homeless gift bag. Creating these gift bags is a special way to express our thankfulness by paying it forward.
Our Thanksgiving day starts with getting the turkey ready and into the oven. Then there’s a 3-4 hour lull until the final busy hour before the meal is served. It’s during that lull that we take about an hour to put together our care kits. When the kids were younger we set up stations with each item and had the kids “trick or treat” and fill each kit up. It’s a great time for us to talk about caring for others in our community and to talk about what each of us are grateful for. It’s such a warm, wonderful family time together and we’re able to care for others in our community at the same time.
Act of Kindness Homeless Gift Bag
For this act of kindness homeless care bag we started with a string backpack. I try to gather small backpacks and tote bags to hold the gift bag contents. This way the recipient also receives a new bag to hold their belongings.
Then we added individually packaged snacks. I try to focus on filling snacks and look for ones that include some protein. Individually wrapped snacks are important since often the recipients don’t always have a way to keep opened packages of food.
We also added some personal care items. Items we’ve included in our care kits are: soap, a razor, shaving cream, shampoo, deodorant, lotion, a toothbrush, toothpaste, tissues, individually packaged wipes and a comb. Since often the recipients are mobile and carrying their belonging with them, smaller sized items are more practical than larger sized ones.
Since it’s winter time and life on the streets is tough on your health, we often add some hard candy or cough drops. I don’t want to supply other medication because I don’t know the recipient’s health condition and don’t want to inadvertently harm them. But hard candy and tissues are helpful items.
I ask you to join me this year in taking time on Thanksgiving to create your own act of kindness homeless gift bag with your family. Helping others in your community is a wonderful way to express your gratefulness during the season of Thanksgiving.
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I’m a mom of 3, a veteran and military spouse. I’ve moved into 20+ homes all around the world. My passion is helping busy people make the space and time for what’s really important to them.
What a great care package. I think it is great that you used a draw string bag to hold all of the items in, the bag will be so useful in the future.
Thank you for taking the time to care for the homeless. It would also be helpful to add geographically different needs. I live in Colorado where hand warmers (or body warmers) can make all the difference in surviving the night. My packages include items such as knit caps, gloves and bottles of gatorade or powerade. I keep several of these in the car throughout the year, packed seasonally of course (a lesson my parents taught us).
Love that you create your gift bags seasonally, Charlie. I do have a winter homeless gift bag idea, but I like your idea of listing ideas for each season in one spot. Thank you for the idea and for all you do to help others.
I love this idea. We often keep bottled water and some snacks in our car for times when we run into homeless families, but I think I’m going to make some bags with the kids as well.
You’re already setting a beautiful example of helping others by having water and snacks to hand out. Your children will enjoy putting the gift bags together to help others and you’ll build special family memories together. Enjoy, Missy!