In the name of showing kindness to our fellow neighbors, here is a suggestion for you that you can also spread among your friends and family. Many studies show that expressing kindness towards others has a lot of health benefits both for the giver and the receiver.
In San Diego County we do have a significant number of unhoused and hungry people who often express their need for food or help at intersections, near grocery stores or certain restaurants. We suggest do not give monetary support to these individuals because it often does not end up helping them with proper nourishment but rather that they use the many available social services in San Diego (soup kitchens, shelters, Father Joe’s Village, St. Andrews’s Episcopal church Tuesdays supper, Shoreline Community services, etc. ) or provide them directly with food, blankets or clothing. Always stay safe, be in public, and well-lit places when you give the donations.
Here are some suggestions for donations:
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Keep non-perishable food in their original wrapping with proper expiration dates in your car in brown paper bags and hand them out through your car window. The contents could be bottled water, snack bars, peanut butter snacks, apple, string cheese, cookies, etc.
When you go grocery shopping or into a restaurant and there is a hungry person asking for donations, ask them what they prefer to eat, ask them to wait for you, and buy food for them.
Lastly, when you eat in a restaurant you can give an additional cash donation to the people who are behind the scenes such as table bussers and dishwashers asking your waiter to give it to them. Further information on this can be found on Big Table’s website (https://bigtable.org/san-diego/)
Your kindness will be greatly appreciated and will go a long way!