It’s going to be very cold over the next few days in my area and I’d like to buy something for the people who are homeless, particularly ones who won’t be in a shelter.
For budgeting, there is one shelter in my area for adults and one for children/teenagers. I don’t know how many people would not have shelter but in the past, I have planned for 40 people when providing food for people in a shelter.
My budget is about $200 USD; what would be the most useful? thermal blankets? hot food?
Edit: thanks to all who responded. I called the shelter and the most needed items are (1) sleeping bags (2) very warm gloves to prevent frostbite (3) boots
Wow, that is insanely cold. I’m glad there is shelter for the people in your city.
Thanks for your message - really appreciate the links as well. It will be -13 feeling like -23 with the windchill over the next few days. Here it will often be wet and cold rather than soft snow and cold so there is definitely a hypothermia/frostbite concern. I’ll call up the shelters in the morning and see what would be most helpful; i will pick up some wool blankets if they have no particular preference.
If rain and wet snow are a common concern where you are then perhaps you could throw in some dollar store tarpaulins to go with the blankets. They’d be a cheap addition that could help by keeping them and their possessions dry. Even though wool can still insulate when wet it’s certainly not pleasant and it adds a lot of weight.
The links were meant as illustrative, BTW, not necessarily a recommendation to buy those specific things. I haven’t gone digging around for the best deals (and that would likely depend on your location as well).