Day 359

SafeHouse hosted a Christmas Party this morning/afternoon for some wonderful families! I arrived at about 9am and helped get some of the basic setting up done. Before I knew it, it was time to get to the apartments to pick up families and bring them back to SafeHouse for lunch. After 3 trips we had everyone there enjoying some delicious food and waiting in excitement for their presents.

A LOT of volunteers were able to make it out (they're amazing!) so we had several people making plates, serving food and soda, interacting, cleaning up and just doing whatever was needed at any given moment. Santa also made a special appearance and the kids loved it! With his arrival, the gifts were handed out and all you could hear was laughter and excitement in the room!

The event was perfect! And it was a great way to start my day :)

Day 358

I made up for no conversations yesterday - this evening at SafeHouse was full of conversations!

I started off talking with the gentleman who lives under the bridge. Today's topic centered on animals - cats and kittens, possums, rats. It evolved into what animals eat and the claim that they eat anything, and right before I left that conversation it switched to cannibalism!

I then spent the remainder of my time there talking with the gentleman who always cleans up with me. I hadn't talked to him since I got back from vacation so we had a lot to catch up on. He has been going to the library regularly and is not happy about them being closed for the holidays! He had a lot of questions about my trip so we talked about what life is like over there, animals, the weather, and food. We also talked about the local shelter and all the news about it closing or not closing. I asked him about his thoughts on joining a program and, like many others have told me, he doesn't want to join a program because of the structure - he says it's a loss of freedom. He shared that he enjoys being out here learning about the world and being able to see different things.

That's one of the things I love about SafeHouse - they meet people where they are in life and provide whatever assistance they can for that specific person's needs. For this gentleman, it's a meal and service each night.

Day 357

It was sorting day at SafeHouse. After yesterday's nightmare of finding clothes I asked if I could take some time this evening to sort (somehow) through the piles of clothes in the back hallway.

I went through and sorted mens, womens, and kids clothes and tried to fold them up, as neatly as I could!

Once service was over we handed out as many clothes as we could, mainly jackets, sweaters, and blankets. It's really cold tonight so hopefully anyone sleeping outside will be a little warmer!

I had a few conversations, mainly about holiday plans, new year resolutions, and presents!

Now its family time in the city :)

Day 356

After battling thunderstorms from Columbus I made it to SafeHouse just in time for a rather busy night. Since it was pouring rain here as well, Lablanc thought it would be great if we could give anyone who needed it, a dry set of clothes. Of course I was on board with this so that's what we made happen tonight.

Thank goodness Dona and Luna were there! As I got people's sizes, the two of them dug through piles of clothes to find the right ones for each person. After service we handed them out to everyone and then helped anyone else who needed clothes/shoes. It was a relief to know that they were not going to have to sleep in clothes that were soaking wet!!

Before leaving for the night I had a chance to talk to the gentleman who used to be in the air force. He came by after service to get a cigarette and ended up telling me about his whole day and how it led up to the moment he came by SafeHouse. It was a fun conversation and he promised he'd come by tomorrow to tell me more stories - I'm looking forward to it :)

Day 355

Freerice competition is getting tense!! So I dedicated the evening to donating grains of rice (again). I dabbled in English vocabulary, French, flags, and the world map.

And ended with the most I've ever donated in one sitting - 10000grains of rice :)
This may be my last virtual opportunity for the year so it had to end on a high note!

10K!!

Day 354

I'm taking a break from freerice and instead went to Amnesty International to write letters for human right's issues:

The first one was an urgent action letter for a lawyer who was beaten when he demanded to see his client. On 17 August lawyer Dmytro Karpenko was detained and tortured by police in Cherkasy, Ukraine, after demanding to see a client. When he complained about his treatment, the police accused him of assaulting them. His trial is on 29 December. The letter was to ask that his charges be dropped and that there be an immediate investigation into the allegation that Dmytro Karpenko was tortured while in police custody.

The next one was a letter for Wa’el Khattab, a forty-four year old man who was arrested on 14 August during the ongoing popular protests in Syria. He has had no contact with his family since. He appears to have been subjected to an enforced disappearance by the Syrian authorities. I wrote to ask that his whereabouts be disclosed; that he be protected from torture and other ill-treatment, allowed access to his family and a lawyer of his choice and provided with all necessary medical care; and that he be released immediately and unconditionally if he is a prisoner of conscience held solely for peacefully exercising his rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

The last one was for Sarabi Seyunov, who has been held in pre-trial detention in Nalchik, Russian Federation, since November 2005, and has contracted tuberculosis (TB) allegedly due to his deliberate placement with a TB-positive inmate. His condition has rapidly deteriorated while he was being denied adequate treatment, and he can no longer attend his long-awaited trial. I wrote to ask for adequate medical care as well as a response to his requests for an independent medical examination, in accordance with the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Imprisonment or Detention. I also asked for consideration of replacing detention with a different form of pre-trial restriction in view of his health condition as well as an investigation of all allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of Sarabi Seyunov and his co-defendants.

That's all for tonight! Happy giving!

Day 353

I spent another evening on freerice today (my competitive side is being challenged :) ). I donated 5660grains and as a group our company has donated 54510grains of rice.

Most of the group is able to use work time to spend some time on freerice so those numbers will be going up over the next week!

Giving is just that easy - would you/your company let staff use work hours for a good cause??