Help Stanford Students Launch a Student-Run Homeless Shelter

by Danny Jensen · 2011-02-21 15:22:00 UTC
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If you think charity efforts run by college students only involve bake sales and car washes, think again.

Six Stanford University undergrads have pushed campus philanthropy to inspiring heights by proposing a local homeless shelter run by Stanford students.

The group has clearly done their homework. Interviewing potential service provider partners, unhoused individuals and school faculty, they've outlined a program that will meet the needs of the community.

But they need to hear from more supporters.

Sign the petition to help create a Stanford Community-Run homeless shelter.

While volunteering with the organization Night Outreach, which connects Stanford with the homeless community in surrounding Palo Alto, California, the group of six students discovered some startling inadequacies with the current local shelter situation: roughly 178 people are currently living on the streets of Palo Alto, yet the city's only homeless shelter provides just 15 beds. Meanwhile shelters in neighboring towns are either closing, operating at capacity or make for a logistical nightmare for someone in urgent need of shelter and without access to transportation.

Inspired by a student-run shelter at Harvard University, the Stanford group set about to orchestrate plans for a similar shelter that would help meet the needs of Palo Alto's homeless population. The Stanford shelter would be operated by a service organization, which would provide for professional case management and referrals, while students would take on general operating and outreach responsibilities. Earlier this month the students presented a detailed Program Overview to area homeless service providers, community leaders, university officials and homeless residents themselves.

The next step requires that the students show that significant support exists from other Stanford students for a community-run shelter. The students used Change.org to create a petition to help generate community support, and following a story from Change.org Education writer Megan Cottrell, the petition has already received over 300 signatures, and counting. The group aims to gather as many as 2,000 signatures before presenting their business plan for the shelter to the university in March. You can help by signing the petition and sharing it with as many people as you can, especially Stanford students.

Photo credit: Albert Hsu

Danny Jensen

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