What is the best option to provide for people who are homeless in the cold?
What is the best option to provide for people who are homeless in the cold?
It's going to be very cold over the next few days in my area and I'd like to buy something for the people who are homeless, particularly ones who won't be in a shelter.
For budgeting, there is one shelter in my area for adults and one for children/teenagers. I don't know how many people would not have shelter but in the past, I have planned for 40 people when providing food for people in a shelter.
My budget is about $200 USD; what would be the most useful? thermal blankets? hot food?
Edit: thanks to all who responded. I called the shelter and the most needed items are (1) sleeping bags (2) very warm gloves to prevent frostbite (3) boots
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Nothing warms you up like a bit of fire. So if you set fire to the area they spend their time in, they should keep warm for as long as the fire keeps going.
Have a lot of fuel ready.This is a bad joke.
However, I did consider mentioning the possibility of a rocket stove or similar. It's pretty pricey, though, and something like that could potentially cause trouble with law enforcement so probably not best for OP's purposes.
Anything that looks good enough to be sold, will be. Or the cops will consider it stolen and take it away. Might even arrest whoever's using it or just beat them.
Has to be old and ragged-looking, not draw attention. Functionality and ease of positioning are what matter. And it needs fuel. Whatever stuff they have lying around is used as clothing or for shelter. No fuel, no fire. Can't throw gas at them though, should be something solid yet useless for anything else other than burning it.
A rocket stove is wood-burning, and it'll look shabby and scorched after just a single use. It's very efficient, you could run it on twigs and fallen branches. I could easily imagine something like it being very handy for a group of homeless people camping in a park or other wooded area.
But as I said, I decided not to suggest it. They're pretty pricey and specialized.
Is this how you keep yourself and your family warm?
Yes. Going green is too expensive so I set things on fire to keep warm. Nothing plastic of course. We wouldn't want to pollute the atmosphere after all.
I'd imagine if you set fire to the places you spend time in, you'd know a bit about homelessness - but something tells me you're more interested in kicking people when they're down for giggles.
Why not both and more? People aren't the one-dimensional characters often portrayed as in modern media.