The next time you see a homeless person on the streets, think of me. As many know, we were houseless for a few months just thirteen years ago. And no I have to ask a favor, please.
Write water on your shopping list. Nothing fancy, the cheap one, the no-brand, and chill it at home in your fridge, and for the next weeks or months, grab a few ice-cold water bottles when you leave the house and hand them out to the homeless people you see on your way wherever you might be going.
There are hardly any places where they can get water and the summer heat is brutal. There are no cooling stations, and there are not many public fountains.
Just do it and when in doubt…remember me and our story. You read about it on my blog! Make a difference!
Buy it!
Chill it!
Give it!
Just do it!
And while you are at it, put some water outside in your yard as well. Find a place in the shade, even so it might get warm, the birds and other creatures will thank you!
Surely you don’t need me to do good but perhaps you needed a reminder -just like I did. Life is hectic and we forget or overlook the obvious.
…
A great idea but refillable bottles might be better ecologically as this kind of plastic degrades when it is refilled. Mind you the homeless folk have probably have bigger concerns to worry over than that.
While I am all for environmentally friendly containers in this case I am not. We have the worst heatwave ever and the homeless women and men reuse the cheap plastic bottles and actually refill them, whenever they get access to free and clean water. Giving a homeless person anything that might be worth stealing, like a refillable bottle is not smart.
We can buy a case with 24 water bottles for $5. Do the math how much 24 refillable bottle would cost and estimate how many people would actually participate then.
I sure hope we find an alternative to the plastic refillable bottle that is cost effective. When one factors in the long term consequences to marine fauna and clean up of the plastic in the environment, would it still be the cheaper option?
I use recycled hard-plastic bottles (Fiji water) and I am happy with the solution. I reuse them for about seven months. It’s not perfect, but a step in the right direction.
Thanks for this reminder with this. These ponies are older. Anita
A fine prompt, Bridget. In our area people put out water for the ponies
Oh that’s great. Ponies are thirty too. 🙂
That’s a good age for a pony!
[…] the homeless will save a lot of lives in this kind of heat. I hope she doesn’t mind me using her post as inspiration for my FOWC post. I thought it was a great idea that should be […]
Bridget, I hope you don’t mind… your post inspired me and I thought the link should be shared. I did give you credit as the inspiration, but if you want me to remove the link I will.
Not at all, I am glad you share it.
Chill it, give it, keep doing it… what a great idea. I live in a pretty small town but there are some homeless people here still. And next week here it is supposed to reach upper 90s… they will need it! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Thank you for the reblog. We can’t spread the word enough. It’s so obvious and so little we can do, yet we forget -at least I do. I needed the reminder myself.
You’re most welcome. There is always something that can be done to help other and it takes little effort.
A very timely reminder Bridget.
I have the tendency to forget the obvious, I thought I might not be the only one.