McAbee 1

Hannah McAbee

Lecturer D. Jizi

UWRT 1104 -014

20 March 2017

Research Proposal
1. How can programs that serve the homeless acquire the supplies that are needed instead of

donations that are not appropriate for their service?

2. Ive been a youth board member at my church for a long time now and one thing that I

am in charge of is the homeless ministry. Every few months we go out to help people in

the community. People from the church will donate clothes they no longer need but see

thats the issue. Most homeless people dont need old tank tops and sandals. They need

warmth to get through the cold nights. Thats where my question comes in. How can we

get the stuff we need for donation- the right supplies? These people are in need of help

and I personally think it is important to help out in every way you can. I chose this topic

because this is something I care about and something that I run so I felt like this was a

good opportunity to help grow me as a leader and help in a way of giving back to people.

This ties in with my top character strengths too because my top ones were faith,

spirituality, and sense of purpose. The faith part comes from the fact that it is a church

organization where I practice my faith and on the mornings that we go out, we make

breakfast to take and give out along with a care package that has a bible in it and say
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things like, God loves you no matter what youre going through. Spirituality goes along

with that as well because of the fact that it is a church thing that I participate in. For sense

of purpose, I think this really is something for me and others. I know this helps me with

my sense of purpose because I think of it as Im here to help someone else feel wanted

and loved. For others, I think by us as a whole church, donating and just being there to

talk gives them hope for the future. With this being said, this is why I think it is important

to have the proper things donated. Some people have no clue what the proper things to

donate are and I feel as if they should have some way to become aware of this. Why isnt

it already a known thing? Homeless people need things like, blankets because they are

good for multiple things, warm coats, gloves, hats, band-aids, toothbrush and paste,

underwear, and the list goes on. On average, people donate more useless stuff than stuff

people can actually benefit from. My question is how can we get the stuff we need vs the

stuff we dont? I hope to find a way to help services get the things they need out of this

inquiry.

3. Before I really thought about this question, I just thought that the homeless needed

anything and everything. It didnt really occur to me that there were things the homeless

people really needed. It really got me thinking as to well, what are those things that they

really need? Being in charge of the homeless ministry, I feel like I have some knowledge

about homelessness and what things to donate. Also, Ive spoken to many homeless

people through my position and theyve told me firsthand what its like and the things

they wish they had.