IT'S COLD OUT THERE
Good Fairy initiatives to help agencies who help our neighbors who are currently homeless.
1) We collect donated items - tents , sleeping bags, blankets, warm and waterproof coats, camping equipment - these can be left at 41 West Oak Knoll Dr, San Anselmo any time or email team@goodfairy.org for pick up
2) We routinely ask the agencies listed below what they most need but can't get and can't allocate budget to. Then we fundraise with our It's Cold Out there GoFundMe to purchase these things or work with our community to source them. This is a mix of v practical things esp thermal sleeping bags ( we buy over 200 each year) and loving, fun things, reflecting seasons and personal events for individual people.
3) We encourage Marin to support Marin Community Fridges and run little projects to deliver special surprises to them throughout the year such as holiday cookies and leafy friends.
4) We provide this list of county resources for folks currently homeless and encourage fairies to print it out and hand it out when they encounter those in need. Many in this community don't know all of the resources and it is easy to loose track of names and numbers.
5) In the heat of summer we secure and distribute the supplies most needed then, such as sunblock, deodorant ...and sometimes iced drinks, ice cream etc
Email: team@goodfairy.org
We also donate our time - volunteering at agency events such as The Street Chaplaincy Thanksgiving and Holiday gatherings.
And we paint ladybug stones for National Homeless Person's Memorial Day , 21st December. One for each person with their formal and where appropriate loved nickname on it..such as 'Spoons'. These form part of a memorial service and gathering hosted by the Street Chaplaincy.
Our Agency Partners include ..
Ritter Center PARTNERSHIP
Good Fairy asked Ritter Center how best we could all "do something" to help them help people who are currently homeless or are at risk of becoming so. The result was a fundraising drive to creation 50 comprehensive winter care packages for ladies and to buy warm, water resistant, easily packed and moved sleeping bags and back packs. Along the way we discovered many other agencies also in need of the same supplies and so our ' It's Cold Out There' fundraiser was extended to help them too. We also started collecting second hand tents, camping back packs and sleepling bags/bedding for multiple agencies.
Sponsors honor roll: thank you Anon Good Fairy W, The Lions !!! who gave a huge donation, Lenke Wassenaar, Hannah Yurke, Julia Khademi, Jayme Mogen, Dianne O' Donnelley ( 2 bags! ) Jennifer Lautner ( who bought 2 bags!) Kimberley Gonzales, Age Friendly San Anselmo ( covering 5 bags and backs ) Anita Frank, Kathleen Paylor, Dorcas Higgenbotham ( who covered 3!). Nancy Gump, Claire Neilan.
We also took the opportunity to celebrate Ritter House’s six amazing case workers with appreciation painted stones and packages for each person. During Spring Break we worked with San Anselmo's Safeway to surprise the Ritter community and other agenices with spring cupcakes and Ritter House has also benefitted from our Leafy Friends program with nine tomato plants and some potatoes!
See the Ritter Center story. They have been helping to prevent homelessness and improve the health and well-being of individuals and families who are homeless since 1980. In addition to providing 'safety net' services such as clothing, food, showers, laundry and restroom facilities they now also provide case management, medical care, behavioral health counselling and housing support.
If you have ideas on how we can better serve this community, please email us or call/text us at 415-488-6594 with your ideas!
Good Fairy provided backpacks and winter/personal care items for our neighbors who are homeless to the super groovy Fatai Tokolahi and CARE ( The Community Alternative Response & Engagement team from Community Action Marin. ) This five-strong team offers mobile outreach and engagement to individuals who are homeless and have mental health challenges all over Marin. The CARE initiative is part of Community Action Marin's fabulous Safety Net program.
Thanks to Good Fairy donations we were able to gift CARE c, 30 sleeping bags and c 10 back packs and order them 50 pairs of sock, beanies and gloves in March! More recently, we have also secured second hand tents for them.
Here is some feedback from them :0)
Hi Penny-
I wanted to reach out and thank you for all of the wonderful contributions to our CARE homeless outreach team from the Good Fairies! The handmade gifts for our staff were an incredibly nice gesture, and we loved seeing Fatai on your Facebook and Instagram pages (we’ve shared on our Facebook!).
The pandemic has resulted in tragic loss for some families and economic devastation for others, but we’ve also experienced a “silver lining” in that we’ve witnessed so many people stepping up to help their neighbors, and your organization is certainly an excellent example of this. It’s really impressive that your network of volunteers grew so much, and so quickly. While many of our staff have moved to remote work, our CARE Teams have been out in the field every day, all year. It will only be at the end of this week that all of our team will have received their second vaccination, which will be a big relief to me. As Fatai may have shared with you, COVID-19 has required new safety measures that have slowed the rate at which people can be admitted into shelters which means that some people have no choice but to stay in their cars or out in the open. While we’ve had some lovely spring weather it is still quite cold, so the donations you have provided to help people stay warm are deeply appreciated.
Thank you for your support of our work and your care for our neighbors who are currently without homes.
Warmly,
Laurel
Laurel Hill
Director, Safety Net Services
Community Action Marin
Good Fairy Meredith Parnell is our Vinnies contact. We love her!!!!. We worked with her to provide hundreds of masks and bandanas early on in the pandemic for Vinnies' diners. We worked with scouts to collect bandanas as they were scare and expensive at the time and folks currently homeless were so much more comfortable with wearing these and more likely to keep hold of them.
More recently we have responded to a request for water bottles and are working to support clients who are struggling to start or keep a home by securing household items and discussing Leafy Friends and Spring Clean opportunities.
Good Fairy Kylie is our contact here, in August we created 88 ladies bags for this group and have plans afoot on everything from plants to laundry to haircuts. This agency especially appreciated our summer collection of sunscreen and deodorant and we are soon to work together with their clients organizing and cleaning for people the fairies are supporting.
Good Fairy has a wonderful partnership with our beloved Rev Marty and from Marin's interfaith organization, The Street Chaplaincy
In February we provided a Beanies, Socks and Valentine Chocs event. We created 50 mini care packs, containing a beanie, socks and Hersey's kisses to surprise folks who are 'between homes' at their weekly Tuesday hot meal. We will keep in touch and offer seasonal cheer extras for this group.
Rev Marty also alerts us to specific individual needs for folks in their care or in the care of other church groups with whom she liaises. We have secured everything from a child's training potty to shoes to a tent here.
We have two fridge fairies who will pick up perishable and non perishable food from folks and take them to the nearest community fridge. Let us know if you need us to help pick fruit in order to donate it. Email: team@goodfairy.org
To get involved - to offer food for donation or to volunteer contact marincommunityfridges@gmail.com
Message to all Good Fairies from Marin Community Fridges
Thanks so much for getting involved! The project is set up for individuals to stop by and take/leave food at any time. The fridge is at 26 Medway Rd in San Rafael, and accepts fruit, veggies, bread, juice, eggs, packaged lunch meats, sealed dairy, and premade food. Some people add brown paper "lunches" with a sandwich or other food to grab-and-go. It's best for premade food to have an expiration date and ingredient list attached (masking tape makes a good label). About 10 feet to the right of the fridge there's a dry pantry that houses non-perishables like packaged grains, beans, flour and sugar. Please note, the fridge has no freezer.
Some people like to bring gloves and paper towels/wipes with them to wipe down the fridge interior and keep it clean. All kinds of contributions keep the project going and our community cared for.
Financial donations are made to the project on the following platforms: Venmo: @marincommunityfridges, PayPal: marincommunityfridges@gmail.com, and Go Fund Me: www.gofundme.com/f/marin-community-fridges You can also follow Marin Community Fridges on Instragram at www.instagram.com/marincommunityfridges. We are on Facebook by the same name.
Thanks again for your involvement -- let's spread the word! We're always looking for more residences, schools, churches, and businesses that might be interested in hosting additional fridges, so the project can continue to grow. Please reach out if you have any leads in this regard!
Warmly,
Ellie & the MCF community
Good Fairy is currently discussing ways to work with this amazing organization. They care for a group of 16-25 yr olds Transitional Age Youth ( TAY) many of whom are coping with mental and physical challenges and at times homelessness.
We are so proud of Good Fairy Xania and team who have set up this fund. Here anyone in Marin can contribute any amount of money to reach neighbors in truly dire need as they are not eligible for traditional county relief resources. This includes undocumented people, for example.
The scheme supports San Rafael citizens now and hopes to expand soon.
Individual care, wish list items, move in supplies
Now and then Good Fairy offers practical and emotional support to someone who is between homes or in danger of being so and has a particular need. Everyone is welcome to make any request via our web site by phone, email or by using our 'Get Help' request form.
Clearly our first response is always to ensure folks are aware of existing county resources that can support them - and of course we can't offer all we would like to everyone or be a repeated long term solution to the significant challenges those who are between home face. But we do want we can. You will see us doing a ' call out' on social media' telling the story of a particular person, we have helped source furniture and kitchen equipment for those moving into housing ( and thrown in a welcome home pizza!), we have funded a night in a motel for a person preparing for a job interview and for someone just having a super tough time , we are there for a little touch of practical neighborly love....with a pair of shoes, a few rolls of toilet paper, a stamped envelope, second hand technology, a home cooked hot meal etc. We also have folks who are homeless who volunteer for us. They can advise others on county resources, public transport options and make companionship calls....a few of them even painted appreciation stones for our Project Love Bug.