(PHOTOS) Hopkins ProPEL Students Help Homeless Families

Friday afternoon, students in ProPEL class had a unique assignment: haul a couple dozen baskets and many, many boxes of household goods to a van waiting on the side of the school.

Not that they complained. The load was a sign of just how successful they’d been in a month-long fundraising project for their ProPEL (Professionals Providing Experiences for Life) class.

In all, the students collected between $1,100 and $1,200 for Simpson Housing Services.

That was enough to put together 22 “welcome home” baskets that will help homeless families moving into transitional housing. Each of those baskets contained a $20 Target gift card. Target added to the haul by donating several boxes of goods—nearly filling up an entire room in the high school.

“I was excited when I first saw how full the baskets were,” said senior Shira Kohn. “There’s a lot of different stuff just packed in them.”

Simpson Housing Services helps homeless families find places to live, among other work. The families pay 30 percent of their income, and the organization takes care of any remaining rent.

Although that’s a big help, the families usually don’t own much to help them get started in their new places, said Christina Giese, the organization’s volunteer services manager. The baskets give them the essentials to fill up bare apartments—towels, laundry detergent, toothpaste, coffee mugs and more.

“When they move into an apartment, it’s completely empty,” Giese told the students.

The class chose Simpson Housing Services because they thought it would do the most good for the most people. They then collaborated on a handful of fundraisers. Two of those fundraisers were “miracle minutes” in which the students collected money from classmates in their advisory classes. They also took shifts manning a table at a volleyball game and a booth at football game.

The project culminated in a class shopping trip and Friday’s excitement handing over the goods to the organization.