We at The Move Project care more about ending homelessness in Des Moines (and other cities around the world) than we are joining homeless services. There are of course, immediate needs to those who are homeless, and those needs cannot be overlooked. However, we don't believe providing continual homeless services will lead to homeless alleviation.
There are many organizations, in Des Moines and beyond, who are doing incredible work in homeless services. We feel that one simple way The Move Project can become engaged in ending homelessness is to come alongside these organizations and meet their basic needs, so they can then reallocate their funds and attention to helping people transition into housing.
One way we've done this is through providing toiletries to a major homeless shelter in Des Moines. We've written about this initiative on the blog before, but here's a quick recap:
- We have partnered with the Iowa Cubs to and supplied a shelter in Des Moines with toiletries brought back from the team's road trips.
- This initiative was also replicated with the Round Rock Express, who we connected with shelters in Round Rock and Austin, Texas.
- We partnered with a hotel management group who manages three hotels in the greater Des Moines area, and we supply toiletries gathered by their cleaning staff to the shelter in Des Moines.
- The first time we delivered toiletries to the shelter, they were rationing out shampoo in Dixie cups, as they were nearly out of shampoo.
We feel that a shelter and homeless services organization can't effectively transition people into housing when their focus is on finding a way to stretch shampoo so everyone can shower. Our goal is to let the experts do what they are uniquely positioned to do, and help satisfy needs they may have.
As we've mentioned before, it's dead simple.
Professional franchises, hotels, kids traveling teams, business people, and any community member can transform a city, one soap and shampoo bottle at a time.
If you'd like to join in the alleviation of homelessness in Des Moines (or your city if you're not in Des Moines) reach out an we can help get you started. Drop us a line: Sam@themoveproject.org.
The next move is yours!