Homelessness in Lenawee County Siena Student Nurses Association

Did you know? 564,708 homeless reside across the United States in 2015 (National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2016). 92,341 homeless reside in the state of Michigan in 2014 (Ritter, 2013). 10,422 reside in Region Nine (Ritter, 2013). 206,286 of these people were in families 15% were chronically homeless– homeless for longer than 1 year Region 9- includes Hillsdale Jackson Monore Lenawee Livingston Washtenaw #5 in state of MI

Our Plan Donation of Blessing Bags to homeless population of Lenawee County The bags will be distributed to homeless shelters around Lenawee County Projected Timeline: November 11, 2016: Obtain all materials. November 22, 2016: Assembled all bags. November 23, 2016: Distribute bags to locations. December 14, 2016: Follow up with distributors. We do have shelters set up that are working with us The shelters did tell us we could donate at any time of the year but we wanted to do it around the holidays

Why are we doing this? Raise awareness that homelessness is a serious concern in our county The Blessing Bag idea originated from a previous research project A purpose of SSNA is to aid in the development of the whole person and provide health care of people in all walks of life. A function of SSNA is to promote and encourage participation in community affairs and activities towards health care and the resolution of related social issues. We are already raising awareness by proposing this project and educating everyone in the room We have an interview set up with WLEN to discuss the project and talk about homelessness in our county The project was done by seniors who graduated last year and their hope was for upcoming classes to implement this idea

What are Blessing Bags? Reusable Bag Shampoo Soap Water Bottle Towel Washcloth Socks Plate Silverware Band-aids Lotion Shampoo Soap Deodorant Toothbrush Toothpaste Chapstick Tissues Cotton Swabs Razor Sanitary Pads and Tampons

Budget We have reassessed our budget and found cheaper items as well as cut items out that have been donated and our cost is now down $400 We asked shelters what items are needed for people and did our best to include what we felt were the most prominent

In the future We hope to expand this project and make more bags for various age groups We hope to obtain more funding and donations from across Adrian Include others majors such as Psychology or Social Work

Questions?

References Amazon.com National Alliance to End Homelessness (2016). Snapshot of homelessness. Retrieved November 1, 2016 from http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/snapshot_of_homelessness Ritter, B. (n.d.). The Campaign to End Homelessness The State of Homelessness in Michigan. Retrieved November 1, 2016 from http://michigan.gov/documents/mshda/MCTEH_Synopsis_2013_475407_7.pdf