SAFEPlace: Emergency Shelter inside WISEPlace

WISEPlace transforms the lives of approximately 90 women each year, by providing safe, affordable transitional housing, healthy meals, financial-empowerment curriculum and employment assistance, to help women move from homelessness and hopelessness to self-reliance. Case managers provide personalized counseling to help each woman overcome issues that led to unemployment and homelessness. During its history, WISEPlace has transformed the lives of more than 7,500 women.

In March 2018, in response to the evacuation of the Santa Ana River homeless encampment, WISEPlace stepped up and transformed its gym into an temporary emergency shelter and named it SAFEPlace with 60 beds in the space! This partnership with the County of Orange (in California) provides 24-hour shelter, three meals a day, shower and laundry facilities to the hundreds of unaccompanied women in the community facing homelessness. KINDNESSxAPRICITY fully supports and commends the wonderful staff at WISEPlace for creating a safe, clean, low-barrier refuge!

Supplies and funds are immensely important and greatly appreciated!
Below is a list of suggestions for donated goods if you're considering helping ^_^  

#KINDNESSxAPRICITY

NON-TANGIBLES

• Respect
• Compassion

FOOD-RELATED

These suggested items are travel-friendly and help homeless women stay energized in between meals. Sometimes they reach a shelter or meal center after meals have been served and end up having no food to eat so snacks are great to have handy!

• Bottled water
• Boxed drinks/juices
• Individually-packed chips/snacks
• Granola bars
• Cereal bars
• Trail mix packets
• Packaged nuts
• Peanut butter
• Fruit cups
• Coffee (ground)
• Plastic/paper cups
• Coffee cups
• Plastic spoons
• Paper plates
• Napkins

PERSONAL CARE/HYGIENE

• Adult diapers
• Sanitary liners/napkins (light, moderate, and heavy flow)
• Tampons (light, moderate, and heavy flow)
• Shower slippers
• Baby wipes
• Anti-bacterial wipes
• Toothbrushes
• Mouth rinse (non-alcoholic only)
• Toothpaste (travel-size preferred)
• Shampoo  (travel-size preferred)
• Conditioner  (travel-size preferred)
• Moisturizer (travel-size preferred)
• Sunscreen
• Bar soap
• Body wash
• Hairbrushes and combs
• First-aid items (Band-aids, ointments, medicated wipes, bandages, etc)
• Rain ponchos
• Umbrellas
• Hats/beanies
• Gloves
• Sunglasses
• Reading glasses

CLOTHING (any size)

• Sports bra
• Underwear
• Sporty women's attire
• Casual women's attire
• Dressy/professional women's attire
• Warm clothing
• Belts
• Scarves
• Socks
• Slippers/sandals
• Casual shoes
• Tennis shoes
• Sneakers
• Dressy/professional shoes
• Sturdy reusable bags

FOR THE SHELTER (...to help the homeless)

There are health standards that must be met and donating the following items help the facility stay clean and well-prepared to feed those who need food and shelter!

FOOD-RELATED: There are a lot of people under this roof and the staff can sure use the food to help prepare 3 meals a day for each person here! There is limited storage for produce and dairy in the kitchen so check with the shelter directly (714-542-3577) if you plan on donating/dropping off such items: We wouldn't want your generous food donation to go unused due to spoilage! 

Foods listed below are affordable and good choices to consider:

• Non-perishable/shelf-stable foods such as canned goods, uncooked rice, beans, cereals, sugars and spices are inexpensive and convenient to transport to the shelter and don't need to be refrigerated.
• Baked items such as bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, tortillas, and croissants keep well and are filling.
• Luncheon/prepared meats and rotisserie chickens can be used to make a quick meal!

BEDDING: Having extra bedding means that staff can change and rotate the bedding regularly for laundry.

• Blankets (dark colors preferred; twin or cot size)
• Comforters (dark colors preferred; twin or cot size)
• Flat twin-sized sheets (white preferred)
• Twin-sized mattress protectors
• Pillows
• Pillow protectors

CLEANING/DISINFECTING PRODUCTS: There are many people in the kitchen, the bathrooms, and the sleeping quarters daily. Having many people occupying a space requires diligence in cleaning all the surfaces to help reduce the spreading of illnesses. Paper goods and cleaning products help immensely!

• Surface disinfectant wipes
• Anti-bacterial spray
• Various surface cleaners (glass, floors, stainless steel, etc.)
• Laundry detergent
• Toilet bowl cleaners (gel bottles or tablets)
• Liquid handsoap
• Dish soap
• Bleach
• Air freshener sprays

SINGLE-USE ITEMS: There are a lot of people under this roof and keeping supplies stocked is crucial.

• Toilet seat covers
• Toiler paper
• Paper towels (rolls preferred)
• Facial tissues
• Trash bags (13 and 33 gallons preferred)

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