Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia joins with the City of Philadelphia, Project Home and other volunteers who help the homeless all year round to assemble and distribute "Emergency Bags."

Reverend Monsignor Timothy Senior, Secretary for Catholic Human Services, is a member of the Mayor's Task Force on Homelessness. A subcommittee chaired by Monsignor Senior that is studying panhandling and feeding on the street has arranged for emergency food bags to be available at locations in Center City for distribution to homeless persons needing food in an emergency. The subcommittee wanted to address the problem of increasing hunger among the homeless in a way that would not increase panhandling or feeding on the street. The "Emergency Bags" can be provided to the homeless at locations that normally would not provide food. These bags are not intended to replace food provided to the homeless in the free meal locations (soup kitchens) or the meals provided by homeless shelters. These bags are supplements.
Various members of the subcommittee are to assemble the first batch of "Emergency Bags" at the SHARE warehouse on

Emergency Bag Assembly
Monday, December 23, 2002
11:00 a.m.
2901 W. Hunting Park Avenue
Philadelphia


The "Emergency Bags" will contain items such as 100% juice box, granola/fruit bar, peanut butter or cheese crackers, box of raisins or fruit cup as well as an information card concerning shelters and soup kitchens. The first location for the homeless to get the bags is the Outreach Coordination Center at Project Home, located at 1515 Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia. Sister Mary Scullion is the Executive Director of Project Home which provides services to the homeless but would not be a feeding site.

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