ASHLEY DAY
PRIDE STAFF WRITER

Many are not so lucky to have the luxuries of food and a place to live. Project Homeless Connect helps take care of this problem by “connecting services and resources to the people that need them” according to a flier.

The event takes place Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Clarke Field House. It is the first event in more than 10 years in North County that helps provide service for the homeless community from cities such as Escondido, Poway, Carlsbad, Del Mar and cities in between.

Project Homeless Connect hopes students, staff and the community to come together to take part in the cause. Organizers are looking to collect supplies and have volunteers for the event. Anyone can put together different survival kits including toiletries, first aid, clothing items, utility items and canned food.

“If students want to participate, there will be training U-Hour on Nov. 10 and 15. They can collect things to drop off. That’s a good thing to do, so it’s open for anybody – even the community,” Valerie Knox Community Partnerships Coordinator said.

The project started in response to President Obama’s Interfaith and Community Service Campus Challenge.

Beginning in May, our campus applied to take part in the challenge. President Obama selected CSUSM as one of a handful of college campuses across the nation to take part in the challenge. During the summer, two representatives of CSUSM went to the White House.

“The idea [began with] interfaith and culture tied into community service…With the idea being that when you can become more tolerant of someone by working toward a common cause,” Director of Office of Community Service Learning (OCSL) Darci Strother said.

Knox also said CSUSM is centrally located in North County and is large enough to house the event. The Alliance for Regional Solutions (ARS) and OCSL teamed up to sponsor the event. According to a Project Homeless Connect flier, “ARS is a collaboration of North County Non-Profits, nine municipalities, County of San Diego, healthcare agencies and universities.” Donations go directly to the homeless and benefit them.

Different campus organizations and clubs are currently holding drives for different items. The canned food drive stemmed from OCLS Office Coordinator, Alejandra Sánchez.

“I saw a need to get canned food. Anyone can participate in donating canned items,” Sánchez said.

In addition to the training events and main event, there will also be a stuffing party.

“On Wednesday, Nov. 9, at the Clarke Field House, there’s a stuffing party,” Knox said.

Sánchez continued that different organizations will bring their collected items to the event to stuff into bags.

Overall, the main goal of the event is the community.

“[The event] will hopefully serve as a first step for serving [the community]. It’ll break down barriers, so people see there is a need,” Strother said.

To see a list of items needed or to volunteer for the event go to csusm.edu/ocsl/special events