The Sedona Area Homeless Alliance is sharing some Christmas cheer with some of those who need it most.
For the fourth-straight year SAHA is serving as one of Santa’s helpers for its A Soft Place to Fall Christmas project.
“Most people experiencing homelessness do not have room for extra things so we don’t usually push a lot of items at once to someone in that situation,” Laurie Moore, co-founder of SAHA, said. “What we package is specifically what we always have available to the homeless community to help make their lives a bit easier.”
These items include hand towels and wash cloths, liquid soap, socks, hats, scarves, gloves, shampoo, lotion, toothbrushes and toothpaste, deodorant, razors, shaving cream, nail clippers, cotton swabs, bandages, combs, lip balm, emergency blankets, hand warmers, flashlights, military can openers, travel size pillows, toys for the children and Christmas treats. They also like to include a grocery store gift card if they’re able to get those donated.
“All items throughout the year and at Christmas are donated from our very generous and compassionate community, including the handmade hats, scarves and pillows, and of course all these items need to be replenished after the holidays,” Moore said.
The gifts were wrapped on Wednesday, Dec. 23, and were distributed the following days.
Moore said the project name is mostly in reference to the pillow that is included each year.
“It might seem insignificant but the first year we pulled up to a local grocery store that was closed for Christmas it was really cold out and there was a group of men — probably in their 30s — sitting there,” she said. “They watched us approach with our arms full of gifts and began to smile. It seemed that they all turned into little boys on Christmas morning, joyfully ripping the wrapping paper from their gifts. They commented how fun it was no matter what was inside.
“When they unwrapped the pillows they hugged them like a teddy bear and as we pulled away we knew how valuable it was that we include a pillow each year.”
The packages are appreciated so much and is an important reminder to the receivers that they are loved, which is something that is not often felt living on the streets, she said.
Some packages are delivered on Christmas Eve to be discovered in the morning, others on Christmas Day.
“Christmas Day usually includes driving the sleigh around watching for those we missed,” she said.
In all, about 45 packages were created this year, which is a little less than half of the 125 homeless people SAHA serves on a regular basis, in addition to the hundreds of transient homeless.
Moore said it was a challenge to find a place to serve as Santa’s Sedona workshop due to COVID-19 closures. But Ed Nelson, general manager of Andante Inn, stepped up to provide a place for SAHA’s elves to do their gift wrapping. As a way to help with social distancing, fewer volunteers were brought in this year to help with the wrapping.
“We could not be more thankful to our donors this time of year and throughout the year,” Moore said. “SAHA is a nonprofit organization that runs solely on donations and completely by volunteers. We appreciate that our donors understand that people experiencing homelessness need and deserve help 365 days a year, not just during the holidays.
“It is you, our donors, who are the life line to the people in need, and Sedona Area Homeless Alliance is honored to be a conduit for that.”
All services at this time are being offered as an outreach program as SAHA is actively looking for an appropriate building to lease for a day-service building in West Sedona. Offering services in that type of atmosphere helps to create better changes for those they serve, SAHA said.
Email sedonahomeless@gmail.com or visit sedonahomeless.org for more information.
