Donations days for the Homeless Resource and Clothing Drive have been extended to Thursday, April 23. Dr. Tara Perry and two of her classes in the communications department are holding the Homeless Resource and Clothing Drive to provide the homeless with the necessities that they need for everyday life. The drive is looking for socks, knitted hats, toiletries, brightly colored backpacks, blankets, reusable water bottles and any other everyday use item you can imagine. Once the items have been gathered they will be organized into backpacks and distributed to the homeless community in downtown Bellingham. On Saturday, April 25, students will meet at AB Crepes to pass out the backpacks. AB Crepes will be opening early for the event and will be giving out a free crepe and cup of coffee to every homeless person that arrives. Junior communications major Colton Edwards is a student in one of Perry’s classes and feels a personal connection to this event. Growing up in a town with little to no homeless interaction, he felt a culture shock when he moved to Bellingham and saw the large homeless presence, Edwards said. “Service learning is all about getting in the community and helping out so they are definitely a community we wanted to reach out to,” Edwards said. Edwards is part of a three-person social media team that posts on the Twitter account for the event. The Homeless Resource and Clothing Drive is a part of Western’s Active Minds Changing Lives week, where different clubs and organizations around campus put on events, demonstrations and workshops in the effort to be active change makers not only on Westerns campus but in their own lives as well. Donations are being collected from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Communications Facility 294 and near the Wilson Library exit facing Old Main. For more information on the event and to follow their progress go to the event’s Twitter page @Bellingpacks.
