Adopt-a-Shelter is Dec 1 and Dec 8

I'm a little late getting it up, but my annual charity thing is happening again, and again I call upon the charity of MGoReaders to help us throw a party for and give gifts to kids spending the season in a homeless shelter.

Adopt-a-Shelter is a one-day event at two Detroit shelters where we give the clients a Christmas party and allow the parents to "shop" for donated gifts worth $10 to $20.

Activities for the kids include a pizza party, Santa Claus, a teen game room, face-painting, artwork and dancing. Most of the activities are a diversion for the kids while their parents…

Shop in a gift room filled with donated, unwrapped gifts. The parents can each select a certain number of gifts for themselves and their family members (this is why they have to be unwrapped). Anything left over goes to the shelters—every year we have a ton left over, and every year they've managed to give it all away in a few months after we leave.

The sites for the parties will be Booth Evangeline (Amazon Wish List) on Saturday, December 8, and Genesis II House (Amazon Wish List) this Saturday, December 1. Mitch Albom's organization Time to Help is again throwing the larger Booth party, and Mitch will be there; the shelter has about 150 current clients, about half of whom are kids. Genesis House has about 50 women and 17 children; they recently moved to a new building so they're in dire need of a lot of donated furniture, particularly dressers/anything that can be used in lieu of such (students: your old dorm stuff is perfect).

What You Can Do

Help stock the gift room, donate furniture, and volunteer. See the jump for the Details.

1. Gift Donations

Gift Room: Gift donations should be unwrapped, tasteful, and between $15-$20. Stuff that needs batteries should come with batteries. No guns, no swords, no violent comic books. Historically we tend to fall short with stuff for young moms.

• AGE RANGE: The age of the children range from 9 months to 16 years old, with most of the children between 8 and 11.
• SIZES: A variety of sizes ranging from newborn to 3X are needed. The larger sizes (2X and 3X are for girls.)
• TOYS: Age-appropriate toys and educational toys are needed.
• CLOTHES: Winter in Detroit. Also a reminder that all young adults and teens, no matter their station, care about style. It may seem counterintuitive but one really nice thing is more appreciated than a package of four just-the-thing things.
• TOILETRIES: All types of toiletries are needed, except NOTHING with ALCOHOL in it. Shampoo, Conditioner, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, Body Lotion, Women’s Deodorant, Body Wash, Soap, Washcloths, Towels.

If you can't find something you want, buy something from a Cyber Monday (for example Moe's is 20% off today) and have it shipped to:

Time to Help Christmas Party
150 Stimson St.
Detroit, MI  48201

Or check back—we're still updating it.If you would like to donate, I have set up Amazon wish lists for either site. You don't have to order what's on there—they're ideas. Links:

Note the Genesis party is this Saturday so whatever you send needs to arrive by Friday.

Chart of ideas:

2. Donate furniture

The residents of Genesis II house moved to a new location so everybody's still decorating their rooms. Gently used furniture and housewares—dressers, chairs, silverware, college desks, tupperware, cups and plates are much in need.It used to be a nursing home so there's not much there but beds at the moment. If you'd like to help coordinate bringing a big load of stuff from Ann Arbor, start a thread. The address is 12900 W Chicago, Detroit, MI 48228 if you want to take stuff down there anytime. Coordinate with Julie.

3. Volunteer

Join us either day to throw the Christmas Parties and bring your unwrapped gift with you.

December 1: At Genesis II House. Coordinate with Julie if you'd like to attend since only so many volunteers will fit. Fact sheet.

December 8: At Booth Evangeline Salvation Army Shelter. We still need about 50 more volunteers. Things you can be doing are playing videogames and air hockey with the teens, assisting Santa (and the photographer, who's a fellow MGoBlogger), doing arts & crafts with Misopogal, staffing the "store," serving donuts and bagels, or helping me direct the volunteers. Sign up to help online. Address is 20775 Pembroke Ave., Detroit, MI  48219.

Can't I Just Give You Money?

This is not the preferred option for me. One year I set up a Paypal account and then spent three times as much as I received and I don't like taking your money. If you can't find something on the Amazon lists above, donate to S.A.Y. Detroit, the umbrella organization for Detroit charities, and specify in the comments what it's for.