San Francisco Zen Center, in coordination with the San Francisco Interfaith Council, participates in the Winter Shelter Program, providing shelter and meals to homeless individuals during the winter months.

This year, the Zen Center connected with Blanket The Homeless who provided us with ‘care packages’ to give away with the meals. These packages contained winter hats, socks, gloves, emergency blankets, antiseptic creams, nutrition bars donated by The Clif Bar Co, as well as a Resource Guide with information on facilities providing free food, shelter, medical, legal, and family support services throughout the City of San Francisco.

Needless to say, our guests received these with great enthusiasm and gratitude. 

At the last two meals we provided we were able to offer over 100 of these packages. It was a wonderful addition to our efforts and we at Zen Center are very grateful for the generosity of Blanket the Homeless. Together we were able to be of greater service to our homeless community and we look forward to continuing collaboration with them.

We encourage other organizations to reach out to them at  http://blanketthehomeless.org

Volunteers from St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco on the Assembly Line putting our Blanket The Homeless packages together.