San Diego Chapter veterans Gary Butterfield and Gil Field and two students from the local high school, San Diego High Tech High, headed to downtown San Diego with sleeping bags in search of individuals sleeping on the street. Each student was asked to provide a reflection of what they experienced.
Report provided by Gil Fields:
Finding and vetting people with little/no sleeping gear began slowly, as it often does, but after a short while, we began to locate individuals who were sleeping on the pavement with little or no covering or protection.
I do believe that the students, who actively jumped in with the vetting and handout of the bag sets, experienced a night to remember. Gary and I were very impressed that by 30 minutes into our trip, the students were making the decisions who should get a bag set and then unpacking and showing each recipient what they were getting, as we have learned that many homeless people do not know what a sleeping bag is or how it works (we still find this to be amazing).
We have been blessed again this season to be among the charities featured in the Daily Difference column in the Union-Tribune, and we are appreciative for the publicity and hoped-for donations.
Each bag set we give out to the neediest of the needy downtown costs us $33 at deep discount in bulk from the Coleman Company. Donations may be made on-line via credit card at www.SDVFP.org or checks, made out to “SDVFP” may be sent to: SDVFP, 11685 Scripps Lake Drive, San Diego, CA 92131. All donors receive a thank you card and a 501-C-3 receipt for tax purposes. 100% of every donation buys gear (we have no overhead).
Each student was asked to provide a reflection of what they experienced
Indi:
“After hearing about the compassion campaign I was eager to participate. The thought of making someone in unfortunate circumstances way of living even a little a better, made me ecstatic. When it finally came time to hand out sleeping bags I was both excited and a little bit nervous, I didn’t fully know what to expect. I would say I got an experience with a large variety of reactions. Ranging from a simple thank you to tears of joy. Two men that we interacted with stuck out to me the most. The first was a disabled man with a walker. His friend approached our car as we began to drove away. He had seen us handing a couple sleeping bags to others and expressed a need for warmth for him and his friend. After giving them a couple sleeping bags, the disabled man began to cry. He continuously thanked us in Spanish, leaving me with an amazing memory as we drove away. The second man that stood out to me was one of the last men we handed out bags to. As I asked him if he needed a bag, he yelled with excitement. Acting as if this was one of the best days of his life. I was overjoyed that I had made people’s nights with a simple sleeping bag. This was an amazing experience and I think that actively engaging with the homeless community helps people understand what they are going through. I think it’s amazing that Veterans For Peace uses the compassion campaign to help homeless veterans, while also educating the public one trip at a time. I am grateful for the experience I was given and I plan to spread my thoughts and feelings onto the world around me.”
Jose:
“While conducting research on the San Diego Chapter of Veterans For Peace for a school assignment I stumbled upon the Compassion Campaign. I learned about the astonishing number of homeless struggling to get by in downtown San Diego. I learned how helpful and necessary a sleeping bag could be and read about the 2,000 sleeping bags that had been handed out since December, 2010. So when I learned that participating in the project was a possibility I jumped at the opportunity.
There were pre-jitters when driving to downtown just because I was not accustomed to interacting with homeless. It didn’t help when the second person we met warned us about other homeless in the area. However, as the night went on I got more comfortable with the aspect of approaching small communities of homeless. This was helped by the extremely emotional and thankful reactions. That night we handed 20 sleeping bags. Some homeless had only recently moved onto the streets and some had obviously been out there for many years but all showed their gratitude towards us. The most humbling of these was the man who burst into tears at the site of the sleeping bags. Handicapped and struggling to speak English the man’s reaction to the sleeping bag which to me is a common object was only one aspect that made the night a truly eye opening experience.”