Welcome Home Basket

Imagine living on the streets or in a shelter for a long time. “Helpless, hopeless, homeless,” is how Larry describes it. Many who are homeless also suffer from mental illness and/or addiction and typically have been homeless for at least three years or more. These men and women own very few possessions-what fits in a backpack.

At Cabrini, we believe in the resilience of the human spirit to regain dignity and move toward greater self reliance when individuals are treated with respect and given access to the resources they need. Support begins the moment the individual enters their apartment with the gift of a “Welcome Home Basket”. These baskets are filled with dishes, glasses, kitchenware, bath and bedding sets, cleaning supplies and small household goods-the essential items that transform a place to live into a home. These are simple items similar to what most of us gathered from our family and friends when we moved into our first apartment.

Your gift “welcomes home” individuals such as Larry and assures them their dreams can come true. “When someone else becomes hopeful for you, then you become hopeful. Now I can see my future,” Larry proclaim