Jchoice.Org

The hiking, backpacking, and camping community is very large.  An avid hiker/backpacker, Ken believed that every person who participates in one of these activities most likely has a basement, closet, or garage full of unwanted gear that for one reason or another has been “upgraded” over the years and left to collect dust.  He was convinced that people would be more than happy to donate their unwanted gear to help the homeless.  Ken started Homeless Gear in May of 2008 and works full time for Homeless Gear as an unpaid volunteer.

In addition to providing gear and clothing to homeless adults, Homeless Gear distributes gear, clothing, and household essentials to homeless and near homeless families with children through our Children in Need program and we have recently launched our Youth in Need program focusing on youth between the ages of 13 and 19.

The focus of our Children in Need program is to provide homeless and near homeless children basic clothing, hygiene items, and other essentials.  Our goal is to provide these children with basic necessities to ensure that they are protected from the elements, able to meet basic health and hygiene needs, allow them to actively participate in school and simply to help bolster their self esteem and provide as much normalcy in their lives as possible.

Homeless Gear's current operating budget is small by comparison to most non-profit organizations.  Our Executive Director is a full time unpaid volunteer, and our paid staff consists of three contract labor part time employess.  Donations are also used to fund bulk purchases of product (socks, tarps, rain ponchos, day packs, etc.).  We work with what we have available but we believe we can do so much more for those in need throughout our community as our funding increases.

We interviewed a large number of service providers that worked with the homeless (day shelters, night shelters, outreach programs etc.) and all indicated that there was no agency/organization that collected and distributed outdoor gear (sleeping bags, backpacks, tarps, tents, etc) or focused on durable outdoor clothing (coats, boots, gloves, etc) on a year round and permanent basis.  We also interviewed the homeless themselves during early distributions and they verified what we had been told by the providers.  We have begun to get inquiries from all over the country about our program and so far it appears that we are providing a unique and much needed service to the homeless and to agencies that work with the homeless.