WeCount matches those in need with everything from sleeping bags to personal hygiene items. Once a person in need claims a donation via the website, the app provides both parties with directions to a safe and secure public drop-off site. The app also gives donors and recipients the option to keep in touch.
In the fall of 2004, a group of homeless advocates in San Francisco tried an experiment. They rented a local convention hall, persuaded nearly every social service provider in their city to set up a table, and opened what amounted to a trade fair for homeless people. In addition to information about every short- and long-term housing program available in the city, Project Homeless Connect provided clothing, shoes, free phone calls, counseling, medical treatment, dental care, eye exams and glasses, benefits information, government identification cards, and more. There was live music, free food, and, yes, even secure valet parking for shopping carts, so that clients could wander the aisles without fear of having their few possessions stolen. Project Homeless Connect was so successful in enrolling new clients into existing social service programs, that San Francisco now convenes the event six times each year. Homeless participants report that they feel respected and safe at the event. (This is particularly relevant for Vancouver, where many homeless people — especially women — avoid visiting social service offices in the downtown eastside for fear they will be robbed.) Homeless Connect has helped galvanize service providers as well. Social workers and activists and bureaucrats all get to know one another and build relationships that make it easier for them to help their clients navigate among providers. And volunteers clamor to participate. High schools and colleges allow students to volunteer in lieu of class work, and a few Bay Area companies have started allowing their employees to take paid days off work to help organize the event. Originally posted on The Tyee by Monte Paulsen.