Arrupe Club Distributes Hygiene Kits to Denver’s Homeless

On Saturday April 25, 17 students along with Ms. Schissel and Mrs. Krause served the homeless in an eye opening way.

The week before, Arrupe club gathered donations of hygiene kits and snack food to give to the Denver homeless population.  These women with and for others met at Ms. Schissel’s house to assemble the bags and then hit the streets of Downtown Denver to distribute the donations to people who needed a little extra help.

Eleni Soulis ’16 came up with this idea to help and proposed it to Mrs. Krause during an Arrupe meeting. Of course, with an open heart, Mrs. Krause accepted the challenge of a new service opportunity and with hard work and coordination, Eleni and fellow Arrupe members began planing this event.

“It seemed like a great opportunity to get girls involved and have a way to interact directly with Denver’s homeless population. I think we all hoped it would bring sunshine into a couple people’s day, and maybe open up some girls eyes to the injustice in our own community,” Eleni said.

Eleni was definitely correct. This service was impactful and beautiful. The volunteers ranged from girls who regularly volunteer at the soup kitchen and have lots of experience with the homeless, to girls who’ve never had direct service with the homeless.

“learned to step outside my comfort zone. At first I was nervous to approach them but as we handed out more, it got easier. I think doing direct service like this with the homeless helps to get rid of the barrier between us that makes us uncomfortable and helps to make us more united because we are all human with common needs and this helps to acknowledge those needs rather than look at them as outsiders,” said junior Megan Tartell.

Over 120 bags were given to people who are homeless in less than 5 blocks. This astonishing statistic exposes the incredible need for aid to those who are homeless. After distributing the bags, the volunteers went back to Ms. Schissel’s house to talk about the experience. Being mindful and humble when interacting with people who are homeless is important in order to respectfully and effectively give donations.

The group thoughtfully spoke about the service and how it is important to continue to help. Arrupe clubs plans on continuing this service opportunity next year with the hopes of growing it.

Rose Botaish ’16 believes that “it is important that we continue doing this and getting more people involved so that we can make a bigger difference now that we have a basic understanding of what we can do to help.”

In the future, Arrupe club hopes to organize seasonal bag donations. It is important to donate only what it asked for because many homeless people can’t use mouth wash because of the alcohol content. The volunteers learned of other needs requested by those they served such as socks, reusable water bottles, substantial sandwiches, and more.

Arrupe club will be sure to notify the community when the drives occur next year. Although Arrupe organizes the event, anyone can volunteer or donate. How can you help?