Water in the Park

A few weeks ago I planned a Water in the Park event at my church to go and pass out cold water and sunscreen to the homeless. I was able to get some local stores to donate water and ice, and I had a few offices donate sunscreen so everything we handed out was donated to us. I had over 450 bottles of water and about 75 bottles of sunscreen.

I wanted to start early before the heat started since over the summer it starts early so we started at 7:30. I bought bagels for my volunteers, and I had a great turn out. There were around 15 of us. We went to 2 different parks and there were no homeless people. It was pretty discouraging at first but then we took a show of hands and decided to head down town to Madison street. I don't mean this in a bad way but we hit the jack pot. I was so encouraged because there were a few other organizations and people out there passing out free stuff for the people too. At one point I remember looking down the street and seeing one of my volunteers driving his big red trucks down the street with 2 of the volunteers in the bed of the truck holding up a sign that said Free Water. It was awesome! Most everyone was appreciative of the cold water an sunscreen, some had a few requests for next time like soda or beer, :) but you can't please them all. It was great to be able to serve them and just make their day a little brighter. I hope to plan another event in the winter and pass out blankets and soup. We will see how that works out! I was so thankful for my volunteers and their willingness to serve in the community!