Volunteers feed unhoused Madison residents one care package at a time.
Volunteering at a church before 8 AM is not how most college students spend their mornings. But for members of the UW-Madison Social Justice Hub, volunteers say it’s how they help deliver hope to the community.
“It’s just a really great effort to be able to give back and do something good with my week,” said Hunter Weber, a student volunteer.
Volunteers gathered at First United Methodist Church on Tuesday morning to package over 120 emergency food packages plus 75 hygiene kits for the homeless.
Each food bag contains three meals, snacks, towelettes, and two bottles of water. The hygiene packages hold various sanitary items, including dental care, feminine hygiene products, trash bags and toilet paper.
“When you’re an individual suffering loss of home, these are lifelines,” said Karen Andro, director of outreach ministry.
The bags are then distributed to different outreach groups in the area who deliver materials across the city.
Andro says the initiative is not just about putting the bags together, it’s about building trust with the homeless community to bring them what they need to survive.
“So the trust piece is really vital,” she said. “And it is at the heart and the root of how we work, and how we serve. It’s everything.”
Andro says she hopes the work will promote social justice and community building.
