UNIVERSITY PARK—While we snuggle next to the fireplace, with snow billowing in the wind and temperatures dropping below freezing, it’s important to recognize that some people in our community are dealing with the cold, hard facts of housing insecurity.
The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State is partnering with Skills of Central PA for a “Warm Hearts” clothing drive to help people in need. The center will collect new winter-weather necessities—such as hats, scarves, gloves and socks—Nov. 1–Jan. 26.
The “Warm Hearts” drive is inspired by the Center for the Performing Arts presentation of Los Angeles-based contemporary dance company BodyTraffic on Jan. 26 at Eisenhower Auditorium. The event, sponsored by Geisinger, will feature “Fragile Dwellings,” a work dedicated to the Los Angeles homeless population. With increasing numbers of individuals in the State College community in need, and with the recent closing of downtown State College’s Hearts for Homeless shelter, “Fragile Dwellings” could be representative of any community.
Medora Ebersole, the center’s education and community programs manager, stressed the importance of giving back and providing resources.
“Many of the challenges that individuals in transitional situations face on a daily basis are hidden to us,” she said. “But we all know what it is like to feel cold and how easy it is to warm hands, feet and hearts with items like socks and gloves.”
Karry Carr, program specialist at Skills of Central PA, is coordinating the effort with the Center for the Performing Arts.
“Collecting these items gives us all an opportunity to help and to be more aware of people in need,” she said.
Donations can be dropped off in blue bins in the Eisenhower lobby during regular business hours, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. weekdays, or prior to a scheduled Center for the Performing Arts presentation in Eisenhower through Jan. 26. The auditorium will be closed Dec. 24–Jan. 1.
Skills of Central PA will distribute the collected items to Housing Transitions, the Hearts for Homeless Bellefonte location and Out of the Cold.
For more information about the winter accessories drive, contact Ebersole at 814-863-6752 or mde13@psu.edu.
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