As the holidays approach, the first thoughts that come to mind are sitting by the fireplace, covered in blankets, getting and giving presents to family, and indulging in all the warm winter drinks and food. These are the best parts of
the holiday season, but unfortunately there are people all over the world who don’t get to experience it. Community Outreach Club holds these people close to their hearts. This is why for the month of December, they decided to focus most of their attention to the homeless around Maryland. Community Outreach partnered up with organizations like NCC, Pathways to Housing DC, and Christ House in DC, as well as The Urbana Food Bank and the Frederick Soup Kitchen locally. The clothes and food received at the high school for the homeless drive as well as the near 600 food cans received at Giant were a blessing and were all distributed to these organizations. Some volunteers went to walk around DC on Dec. 10, 2017 to distribute 50 hot soups, socks, and candy canes to the homeless people around Union Station with other volunteers from NCC. One woman was outside in the cold and had a very hard time getting up because of her injuries. The volunteers helped her stand and gave her two warm soups. Thankfully, an ambulance came to treat her. One homeless man came to join them in handing out soups to his friends also in need. The NCC welcomes any volunteer who wants to help by bringing any materials or just themselves! The club also made bags filled with soup cans and socks for the homeless Pathways to Housing DC reaches on December 18. They
wrote messages on them with Sharpie so they are able to use the bag in the future as well. On Decenber 23, some volunteers will be going to Christ House to do various activities to help the homeless. The organization provides many services including healthcare for sick homeless people and solving underlying issues that possibly made them homeless. The volunteers will talk to the patients and most likely serve meals to them. Anyone can sign up through Remind, DMing on Instagram, or emailing the club. If volunteering at the Christ House isn’t possible but you would still like to help people, the club will be selling UHS ornaments for three dollars each at sports events and throughout the school day. There is also an opportunity to knit, crochet, or buy a baby blanket to donate to Community of Hope in DC by December 26. To participate in any of these upcoming opportunities please email urbanaoutreach@ gmail.com, DM @urbanaoutreach, or text 81010 the message: @29bfkb. Community Outreach wishes everyone at Urbana happy holidays!