Homeless get warm clothes thanks to the generosity of Book of Dreams readers

Christmas is a little warmer today for 100 homeless Sacramentans, thanks to the generosity of a community.

At noon Tuesday in the downtown Capitol Park Hotel homeless shelter, residents opened holiday gift-wrapped packages containing knit hats, gloves and socks, gifted to them by donors in the Sacramento Bee’s annual Book of Dreams holiday drive.

Joseph Carr, Santa cap on his head, handed out the gifts from a folding chair next to a little Christmas tree in the building’s lobby on Ninth Street. He’s formerly homeless, and wanted to help out. “I’ve been there, done that,” he said. “I want to show them some hope.”

Roberta Sue Lockwood, 64, was pleased. She recently was sleeping on the sidewalk under the awning in front of City Hall, and before that, behind the Old Spaghetti Factory in midtown, before landing a room at the shelter three months ago.

“Socks,” she said, smiling, after carefully unwrapping so she could reuse the paper. “You can’t have enough socks when you’re homeless.”

“This is a nice thing to do. Most of us are not doing Christmas otherwise.”

The Capitol Park shelter is one of 12 local social service programs and organizations that were included in this year’s Bee Book of Dreams, a community effort started more than 25 years ago to grant the holiday wishes of those in need.

The shelter, which requested $1,980 to purchase warm wear for its guests, is operated by the Volunteers of America group and is managed by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

So far, more than $113,000 has been raised through readers’ contributions and money is still coming in. You can still make contributions.

The money will go to the 12 organizations that were profiled in The Bee, and to numerous other community organizations.

Another group that received support this year was Sacramento Blankets for Sacramento Kids, which makes handmade blankets for area children throughout the year..

It is receiving $3,000 to help buy materials for its annual blankets for kindergartners program. Over the past two weeks, 853 kids at seven local schools were presented with double-fleece blankets and stuffed Beanie Babies.

“Most times, that’s all they get for Christmas,” said program founder and “chief blanket gatherer” Claire Gliddon, noting that all of the recipients are from very-low-income families, many of them homeless.

“A lot of them live in their cars and it’s amazing they can get to school,” she said.

Gliddon said this year’s program not only brought in money needed for supplies but also prompted more than 20 people to volunteer to join the organization’s blanket-making brigade.

In a bit of a twist, Gliddon’s organization was a giver as well as a recipient in this year’s Book of Dreams campaign.

Gliddon said she saw the story in The Bee about Lutheran Social Services asking for funds to set up freestanding libraries for children at its low-income housing complexes and made a call to LSS.

“I thought, oh my gosh, here are these kids getting books. I bet they could use some blankets,” Gliddon said.

The offer was gladly accepted and the blankets arrived on Dec. 18.

Some readers were so moved by this year’s stories that they opted to grant an organization’s wish all by themselves.

That was the case with Ann and Chris Kronser, recent retirees, who read about a request from Loaves & Fishes for power-cleaning equipment to be used at the organization’s Friendship Park homeless sanctuary.

They drove to Home Depot, spent more than $900 for a power washer and arranged to have it delivered to the park.

“I think we all struggle with how to help the homeless population,” said Ann Kronser, adding she and her husband were moved by Loaves & Fishes’ commitment to provide a clean and hygienic spot where people can gather for meals, showers and other services.

“They deserve (a clean place),” she said. “We all do. It’s just part of being human.”

The event Tuesday at the Capitol Park Hotel was overseen by Anna Darzins, a care coordinator for Volunteers of America. Many of the people at the temporary shelter have been homeless for years. The shelter offers services that allow many clients to move on to transitional housing.

The gift-giving, she said, is a human caring moment that can resonate with a person who has been homeless but is hoping to make the transition back to a more stable life.

“Some haven’t had someone who’s embraced them and haven’t celebrated Christmas” in recent years, she said. “It’s great to have a Christmas.”

This year’s Book of Dreams wishes

• Needed: Warm winter clothing for homeless guests at Capitol Park shelter. Cost: $1,980
• Needed: New shoes for 300 newly arriving refugee children, mostly from Afghanistan. Cost: $6,000
• Needed: Kid-sized gloves, garden tools, watering cans, a wheelbarrow and other materials for new garden at Sacramento elementary school. Cost: $3,000
• Needed: Funds to purchase diapers and wipes, healthy food and formula, and educational toys and tools for Women’s Empowerment child development center. Cost: $3,000
• Needed: Funds to purchase yarn, fabric, batting and fleece blanket assembly kits to hand out to volunteers who make blankets for Sacramento-area kids. Cost: $3,000
• Needed: Funds to purchase power equipment to help in the daily cleaning work at Friendship Park. Cost: $1,200
• Needed: Money for school supplies for the Always Knocking homework program. Needs include a new laptop and a projector. Cost: $850
• Needed: Funds to install Little Free Libraries at three Sacramento-area housing complexes run by Lutheran Family Services. Cost: $1,500
• Needed: Funds to purchase more fencing, transport carriers and aluminum roofing panels for Kindred Spirits Fawn Rescue. Cost: $5,000
• Needed: Funds to purchase stainless steel animal feeding bowls for pets displaced by disasters in sizes small, medium and large. Cost: $500
• Needed: Funds to purchase supplies and equipment for the Society for the Blind’s new teaching kitchen on S Street. Cost: $5,000
• Needed: Funds to acquire nutritional supplements and specialty foods, such as low sodium products, for the 1,500 seniors served each month by the Elk Grove Food Bank. Cost: $5,000

This story was originally published December 24, 2019 at 2:18 PM.