Monday, December 18, 2006

On The 5th Day Of Christmas, An Angel Gave For Free

....A Backpack Full Of Necesseties....


The angel's name is Gab Laurence and she's been helping to keep folks from getting infected by all manner of microbes on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

And now, on top of all that she's decided to give some of those folks backpacks full of stuff they need.

Gab Laurence, 23, has been handing out (clean) needles with DEYAS for the last year and made it her mission to work on Christmas day and help the people she's come to know so well.

"I really felt more and more connected to the community," she explained. "My goal is to work the Christmas shift and make them feel more appreciated."

Laurence's idea was to give out a backpack full of necessities - toques, mitts, socks, deodorant and treats - to 50 people but she had no idea how to come up with the supplies for the gift packs.

"I needed some way to spread the word to my local community," she said. "My plan was to just send out a mass e-mail until I was told about ChangeEverything.ca and posted [it] on the blog.



The 'blog' is actually a cluster-dome of individual folks announcing how they are trying to do the right thing, and it's sponsored by Vancity.

Now, normally, I don't go for this sort of quasi-corporate co-optation, but this one looks to be a reasonable facsimile of the real thing.

And Ms. Laurence's page details how she is already way ahead of her initial goal.

She also has the details about how you can help her help others if you are so inclined.


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Thanks to the ever altruistic Rob Cottingham for the original link.

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