The Center-Philadelphia at Arch Street UMC, creates safe space for the unhoused to obtain the necessities, showers, clean clothes, case management and wellness services, and respite from cold and heat. This Christmas, they are asking for your help. More and more people are making their way to Grace Café, looking for a place to warm up, take a shower, and obtain clean clothes. The number one item that folks ask for when they come in is a clean pair of underwear.
Clean underwear is a necessity. In a pinch, you could wear the same clothing two days in a row without too much suffering, but you’d think twice before putting on the same pair of underwear. For the unhoused—who live without easy access to a shower—clean underwear is the boundary between UTIs and other infections.
On the day I volunteered at the Grace Café Drop-In Center, the women’s underwear bin was pretty well stocked, while the men’s underwear bin was almost completely empty. This, I was told, is not unusual. Seventy percent of the guests who come to The Center-Philadelphia are male. Twenty-eight percent of them are veterans who have struggled to get access to care or who struggle with PTSD and other mental health conditions because of their military service. Twenty percent of those who come to The Center-Philadelphia are seniors who simply can no longer afford rent and have found themselves pushed to the streets.
Every one of them is made in the image of God. Each one has a story all their own.
As it happened, I helped with the Clothing Closet on one of the first cold days of fall. Coats and blankets were the major requests that day. I watched as one woman received a wonderfully warm coat; she then took off the coat she was wearing and handed it over so that someone else who didn’t have a coat at all might be a little bit warmer. It reminded me of Jesus’s teaching in Luke 3:11: “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.”
Those who couldn’t visit the Clothing Closet that day stopped by to pick up hygiene products, including underwear. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything larger than a medium, and so many of the men left without a clean pair.
The Center—Philadelphia distributed more than 4,000 pairs of underwear in 2023. The need is even greater this year. Purchasing all the underwear needed would cost more than $9,000. That’s where you come in. Consider sponsoring an underwear drive for The Center—Philadelphia for Christmas this year. The most requested items are boxer briefs in sizes M-XXL. You can pick up a pack or two wherever you do your shopping or purchase from Grace Café’s Amazon Wishlist and have the underwear delivered directly to those who need it the most.
You can make an unhoused person’s winter season a little more comfortable. Click here to hear directly from Darlene DiDomineck, Deaconess and Executive Director of The Center—Philadelphia.
Shop Grace Café’s Amazon Wishlist.
Photo by Simon Berger on Unsplash