The After Christmas Crowd
"Transire Bene Faciendo"
Outdoorsman Package Project
Year 40 - Fall 2022 thru Spring 2023
What Is The After Christmas Crowd?
The After Christmas Crowd is made up of a group of habitual volunteers living
in the Hartford area. We are not affiliated with any specific religious,
cultural, ethnic or social group, and are made up of a wide variety of people
from all walks of life. We have been volunteering to work together on special
projects for the homeless since 1983. Each year, at the beginning of the winter
season, we band together again to organize support projects for the homeless in
whatever town we happen to be in at the time. In the early years of our
organization we only served the homeless in the Hartford, Meriden, and
Middletown metro areas of Connecticut. As we grew professionally and our
employers began to station us around the U.S., we began to serve the homeless
throughout the country, bringing our program to the homeless in several other
states.
As of September 2022, there were are dozens of Outdoorsman Package Projects or similar projects around the world that got their start from our early efforts at describing this program. The current economic troubles world-wide have made our efforts even more important, as thousands have been thrown out of work, have had to leave their homeland, or have otherwise been made destitute.
The Ongoing scourge of COVID-19 has created a wave of homelessness throughout the world, and this wave is just as pronounced in the United States, which is just as obvious for those who care to notice. Like in the 2021-2022 season, conditions in Connecticut are somewhat better than in other large metropolitan areas in the United States. But as the contagion of greed and avarice spreads throughout the country, encouraging high pricing and deceptive sales practices, it has become difficult for our ACC Groups to find and package supplies and necessities we need. We invite your help - see the contact information below to find out what you can do to aid our efforts.
Why Do We Call Ourselves "The After Christmas Crowd?"
We call ourselves the After Christmas Crowd since we are most active during the winter months AFTER the Christmas holiday has passed. The homeless are generally well-cared for during the Christmas and New Year's holidays, when everyone is in the giving mood and the publicity makes for good news copy. You can see the homeless on TV frequently during holiday dinners hosted by caring organizations. There they are, all smiles, scarfing down turkey dinners and holiday cheer. But by January 15, they're back out in the cold again, shivering in the biting wind. The period after the Christmas holiday season is when the Crowd really springs to action.
What Does The Crowd Do?
For the past twenty years, the After Christmas Crowd has been making what we call our "Outdoorsman Packages," for distribution to homeless individuals. The packages contain overnight essentials for those individuals who must take up residence outside, perhaps under a bridge, in a corner of an abandoned building or over a steam duct, during the bitterly cold mid-winter season.
How Many Homeless Are You Talking About?
When we first began the Outdoorsman Project in the Hartford, Connecticut metro area, an urban center with a combined total population of about 1,500,000 persons, there were an estimated 300 homeless people frequenting the dozen shelters and community soup kitchens during a typical winter’s night. During any one winter's day, there was a varying population of about sixty or so individuals permanently living outdoors, people who for one reason or another were unable or wouldn’t make a long-term transition to living at an organized shelter. These individuals are the focus of the Outdoorsman project.
Since our early days, the homeless problem has become much, much worse. In January 2022, the State of Connecticut conducted its annual statewide Point-in-Time (PIT) Count of people experiencing homelessness. It noted that the number of people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut rose for the first time in nearly a decade, by about 13% from 2021 to 2022. Over the past eight years, the total number of people experiencing homelessness in Connecticut had dropped, according to previous 2021 report. This year, the number rose from 2,594 to 2,930, likely because of continued economic fallout from the pandemic paired with inflation costs and a lack of housing.
Our experience in other towns throughout the country shows us that there are about the same number of homeless for regions of similar size, especially in urban areas, with about the same number of non-transitioned "Outdoorsmen." These last remain the primary recipients of our Outdoorsman packages.
How Do You Get Packages To The Homeless?
When we first started out making Outdoorsman packages, we used to distribute them by what we called the "brute force" method, traveling around the city looking for overnighters and handing out packages wherever and whenever we could find individuals in need. We still do this on occasion, especially during the winter afternoons prior to a particularly threatening forecast. In 1996, we started distributing packages through homeless shelters and soup kitchens. We found this worked much better, with the shelters and kitchens better able to target individuals who needed the packages, handing them out when clients came in for meals. In fact, this method of distribution worked so well that the number of packages distributed during the 1996 winter season quadrupled over that for the preceding winter season. We estimate that nearly two hundred different people benefited from our Outdoorsman packages that winter.
Supplies Needed For Outdoorsman Packages
(Provided So You Can Make Your Own
Packages To Give To The Homeless In Your Own Area)
SHOEBOXES - A shoebox is the right size and construction to contain the items in the package. Shoeboxes can be obtained from individuals or from shoe stores that typically discard hundreds of them during a week. If you ask a store to save you some, many will, especially if they know that the boxes are going to be used for Outdoorsman packages. Of all the items we need, shoeboxes are right up there near number one.
PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS - These are the types you can get at the supermarket. Each completed Outdoorsman package is carried in its own plastic shopping bag. Make sure the shopping bags are large enough to carry a shoebox - some drug store plastic shopping bags are too small.
PACKING TAPE - We need this to seal the Outdoorsman packages shut. A completed package just about bursts a shoebox, so packing tape must be used to keep it closed.
NEWSPAPER - About ten sheets of newspaper are included in each package. Newspaper can be used for insulation, for cleanup, as a ground cover over cold hard pack and for a million and one other uses.
ALUMINUM FOIL - Five sheets of aluminum foil are included in each package. Foil can be used to make cooking and other utensils, to store items and for other uses.
GARBAGE BAGS - We include five 30-gallon garbage bags in each package. These are used to carry all manner of items, and can also be used for windbreaks and clothing.
ROPE or TWINE - About five feet of natural fiber rope or twine is included in each package. We prefer natural over nylon, since the plastic type stretches and the knots slip, unless you are a superb nautical knot tier, which most people are not.
STYROFOAM CUPS - Five Styrofoam cups are included in each package. These can be the small 8oz. type up to the large 16oz. type.
ZIPLOCK® FREEZER BAGS – Ziplock® bags are used to hold the loose items in the package. The Ziplock® seal bag is the best to keep moisture out and away from the utility blade and matches.
COFFEE Packs - These are the unitized, individualized packages of coffee that many restaurants have. We prefer caffeinated coffee, although decaf is accepted. We try to include five coffee packs in each package.
COFFEE CREAMER Packs - These are the unitized, individual packets of coffee creamer. Cremora® or any of the brands with a high fat or oil content are preferred. We try to include five creamer packs in each package.
COFFEE SWEETENER Packs - These are the unitized, individual packets of sweetener, including the pink stuff, the blue stuff or whatever. We will not take sugar packages, since sugar attracts ants and vermin, who will eat right through the paper of the packages to get at the sweet stuff. We try to include ten sweetener packs in each package.
UTILITY BLADE - We like to include one short, 1" utility blade in each package. This is an ultra useful item that is a must for outdoor living. We like the cheap unitized blades that come with their own handles the best. These can be obtained from army surplus stores or online at places like The Sportsman’s Guide (http://www.sportsmansguide.com).
THICK RUBBER BANDS - Thick rubber bands are used to tie up or tie down a variety of items, including sleeves and pant cuffs. The larger variety can be very useful items to have around in the cold. We include a handful of rubber bands in each package.
CANDLES - We usually include about five short 4" long or so candles in each package. Candles can be used to cook, give light and even to provide a modicum of heat on a cold night. The short 4" candles are available at the supermarket in boxes of twelve or seventy-two.
CLOTHES PINS - Five clothes pins are usually included in each package. They are excellent to tie down windbreaks, hang out wet clothes and for other uses.
MATCHES - We prefer the wooden kitchen type, since they make better kindling and provide a flame for a longer period of time. We will take matchbooks, though. We try to include ten matchbooks or 30 kitchen matches in each package.
GRANOLA BARS - These are excellent overnight snacks. We usually include two in each package.
PEANUT BUTTER & CRACKERS SNACK PACKAGES - We usually include two of these in each package. The high fat content of the peanut butter provides lots of energy and can really settle a hungry stomach late at night.
PEPTO-BISMOL® - We try to include a small, 4oz. bottle of the liquid form of some type of the pink stuff in each package. Many drug stores and supermarkets have their own house brands of the pink stuff. These are usually cheaper and work just as well. The pink stuff is an absolute necessity for individuals who must satisfy their nutrition needs through lots of dumpster diving. This item is the costliest and most difficult to obtain component of a package. Some people donated the chewable brand last year, which we used, but we prefer the liquid stuff.
COLD WEATHER LAYERWEAR - If we can get hold of them, we include a knit cap, gloves or mittens, and a scarf in each package. Some groups also include a multi-use item, socks, in their packages. Socks are an all purpose item that can be used as a carry-all, for warmth of hands and feet, for a head and neck wrap and for a variety of other uses.
How To Make An Outdoorsman Package
The newspaper, aluminum foil and garbage bags are folded first and put into the bottom of the shoebox. Then the coffee packages, creamer and sweetener, the food items, along with the utility blade, matches or matchbooks, clothes pins, candles, Pepto-Bismol®, rubber bands and rope or twine are placed into the Ziplock® bag, which is then pressed to remove air and sealed. The Ziplock® is then fit into a column of Styrofoam cups as best as it can be. The whole assemblage is then put into the shoebox. Winter layerwear, which can include a cap, mittens, gloves and scarf are then placed into the shoebox, which by now is quite snug with items. The top of the shoebox is then put on top and taped down. Usually we need to wrap the tape around the box, since the Outdoorsman package is overflowing with items and is hard to close. Then the shoebox is placed in a plastic shopping bag. The shopping bag can be rubber banded closed, since the Outdoorsman packages can fall out otherwise when you put them down. When we carry them out to the car for distribution, we can usually carry 9-10 of them in one hand.
We usually make packages in groups of ten, due to space considerations and because each package can take up to ten minutes to make (if one person does the packing).
A Last Word...
The After Christmas Crowd is entirely made up of loosely organized groups of local volunteers. Each group is self-supporting, which means that any and all expenses a group has are taken out of their own funds. None of our groups solicit nor accept donations of any kind from external parties. Please, don't send us donations, either monetary or otherwise. All they do is divert us from our primary purpose, that of building Outdoorsman Packages. (Rather than accepting any items that are sent to us from non-group members, it is our policy to donate these items to area homeless shelters in the name of the sender.)
What you can do is set up your own homeless project in your own city, town or village. We can help you if you need more direction that what is provided here. The Crowd is active in promoting the Outdoorsman Package Project concept throughout the country. We welcome the opportunity to speak at churches, synagogues and schools in order to assist local citizens in setting up and taking ownership of their own Outdoorsman Package and similar projects to aid the homeless in their city or town.
For More Information Contact:
Rabbi Dr. J. D. Sandberg, Director
Business & Industrial Chaplains™
P.O. Box 331771
West Hartford, Connecticut, USA 06133-1771
Phone: +01 (860) 306-0038
Thank You For Your Interest
©Copyright The After Christmas Crowd - All Rights Reserved The After Christmas Crowd is a non-denominational social action initiative of Business & Industrial Chaplains™ A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization |