Two Rock Island homeless shelters enjoyed a donation of a little extra comfort for the men, women, and children in their care, thanks to an outstanding community response to the Rock Island Public Library’s November Community Comforts drive.
The month-long drive at Rock Island Public Library locations collected 723 “wish list” gifts of food, paper goods, toiletries, cleaning supplies, gloves, hats, new underwear, socks and more comforts to help shelters care for people experiencing poverty and housing insecurity this holiday season. Donations were divided between Christian Care, which serves homeless men ages 18 and older, and QC Haven of Hope (formerly St. Joseph the Worker House, which serves homeless women and children.
"I am thrilled with the response to the Community Comforts Drive. Our community never ceases to amaze me with its generosity and enthusiasm for giving,” said Karrah Kuykendall, Reference Librarian at Rock Island Public Library.
The drive began as a community partnership project with Christian Care, which is co-presenting a showing of “The Public” and a community conversation on homelessness and housing insecurity, both in January at the Rock Island Downtown Library. For details, see the Library’s January calendar online.
For more free events at the library, visit the library website, call 309-732-READ, follow the Rock Island Library on social media, or sign up for free community calendar alerts from Burbio.
Photo: Karrah Kuykendall, Reference Librarian at Rock Island Public Library, and Steve Gottcent, Community Outreach Coordinator, Christian Care Shelter, show some of the 723 items donated by library patrons to help bring comfort to men, women and children experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. Donations benefited Christian Care and QC Haven of Hope (formerly St. Joseph the Worker House), both in Rock Island.