For this reason, OR&R staff at NOAA's Western Regional Center in Seattle teamed up with the Downtown Emergency Services Center (DESC), one of the largest homelessness and housing organizations in the city, to provide holiday gift bags for homeless and at-risk individuals that the organization serves. DESC's clients include about 2,500 men and women, many of whom are separated from family, living with significant mental illnesses and physical disabilities, and merely surviving day to day, living on the streets.

To make this contribution, many OR&R staff members sponsored a gift bag and its contents by giving cash, then several staff members shopped for the gift items (e.g., beanies, warm gloves, warm socks, a bit of candy, Cup of Noodles, food gift cards, etc.). The staff then gathered during their annual holiday party to assemble 40 gift bags for DESC recipients. We hope that, over the holidays, they can warm their hands and hearts with the new gloves and something hot and nourishing from a nearby restaurant, and enjoy the small gift that may be the only one received all year.

For more information, contact Mark.Dix@noaa.gov.

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