Ready to Begin With Basics?
Create Welcome Home Baskets
DURATION
2-4 hoursWHERE
At your home OR in your community (at you school, camp, place of worship, a local business or in your neighborhood).
WHEN
All year long
WHOSE HELP IS REQUIRED
Mom, Dad or other grown-up to deliver the completed Welcome Home Baskets
HOW IT MAKES A DIFFERENCE
LA Family Housing moves more than 800 households into stable housing every year. This means there are many clients that need support getting their new home started! From mops to toilet paper, help clients gather all the household essentials they need to succeed in permanent housing.
DESCRIPTION
Moving into a permanent home after being homeless is cause to celebrate! Help make the occasion special by collecting items that go into a Welcome Home Basket and provide LA Family Housing clients with what they need to start in a new home! Creating a Welcome Home Basket can be a great project for an individual child/family OR it can be a fun collection drive to do at your school, in your neighborhood or within your community to put together as many baskets as possible for our clients.
ITEMS NEEDED
If doing this activity as a collection drive in your community:
1. A list of talking points - which LA Family Housing will provide - so you can tell others about who we are, what we do, and how their donations will help the homeless
2. Poster board and markers to make signs OR paper and a printer, if making them on a computer
3. Boxes or storage bins for collecting items
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
NEXT STEPS
Decide how many baskets you will make and follow the instructions provided. For questions or to schedule a time to drop off your baskets, contact Terry Lotka at (818) 220-6936 or Tlotka@LAFH.org.
See "View Instructions" below for details.
WEBSITE
1. Decide if you will do this as an individual/family project or a community drive, as well as the items you will collect. Please check out our recommended list of items to include in a Welcome Home Basket or contact Terry Lotka at Tlotka@LAFH.org for more details.
If doing this activity as a collection drive at your school, place of worship or somewhere else in your community, follow steps #2-4. Otherwise, shop for the necessary items with your family on your next trip to the store and continue with step #5!
2. Find bins or boxes in which to collect your donations and make signs for the boxes indicating what you are collecting and the timeframe. Also note that LA Family Housing and its residents will be the lucky recipients of the donations.
3. Make general flyers and signs letting people know you are hosting a donation drive and where items can be dropped off. Post around your town/neighborhood/school for people to see. (We recommend at least two weeks of advertising before beginning your drive and that you run the drive itself for at least two weeks.) You may also want to share news of your drive via email, social media, etc. Be sure to ask family & friends to help spread the word!
4. Periodically check your collection boxes and clean out, as necessary. At the end of the drive, collect the boxes, remove the signs, and organize the donations by item.
5. Create the Welcome Home Baskets using the donated/purchased items. This part can be as creative as you like. Just be sure to include all the necessary items and a special note wishing the family well in their new home!
6. Ask an adult to drop off the completed Welcome Home Baskets to:
LA Family Housing
7843 Lankershim Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91605
7. Be sure to let us know this volunteer activity came from PGK.
8. Fill out this PGK impact form when you’ve completed the activity.