During these tumultuous economic times, many Americans are struggling to stay afloat. And while there are no magic solutions in sight, students across the country are stepping up to do what they can to mitigate the effects of poverty and homelessness. Specifically, I would like to mention students from three separate parts of the country who are taking on the difficult task of providing shelter for currently unhoused individuals.

For the past 28 years, students from Harvard University have operated a student-run homeless shelter. The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter is a seasonal shelter that provides protection from the harsh New England winter. While these passionate student volunteers could be studying and engaging in typical college activities, they instead spend their nights creating a unique, refreshing atmosphere for shelter guests. The Harvard Square Homeless Shelter has earned fantastic rapport among guests from the Cambridge and Boston Area. On Tuesday, November 15, 2011, they will once again welcome unhoused guests into their shelter.

The success of the Harvard shelter has inspired students from other universities to create shelters in their communities. In the Philadelphia region, students from Villanova and other nearby universities have spent the past few months working on a student-run shelter of their own. Led by Villanova history professor Stephanie Sena, this group of volunteers has worked tirelessly to emulate the Harvard model and tailor it to fit in with the Philadelphia community. After months of hard work, they saw their efforts come to fruition. On November 1, 2011, the Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia became the second student-run shelter to open its doors.

Across the country, students from Stanford University are also looking to provide shelter for unhoused individuals. These students, mainly from a campus group called Night Outreach, are collaborating with InnVision to create an additional shelter in Palo Alto. Currently, InnVision operates Hotel de Zink, the only Palo Alto homeless shelter. The Stanford students and InnVision plan to open Hotel de Zink: Women’s Shelter, on January 15, 2012. The shelter will be one of the only women’s shelters in the region.

On the other side of the Bay Area, some of us from Suitcase are in the research and planning stages of starting up our own shelter. While we face a myriad of obstacles, we are inspired by the students from these three other universities who have proved that it can be done. We have been in contact with all three groups, and we hope that we can increase collaboration in the near future. As students who have witnessed the heartbreaking effects of homelessness, we all share the same compassion and empathy toward those who are unhoused. Through our experiences in our respective communities, we feel that it is our generation that has the willpower and passion to ultimately put an end to homelessness, and to see the day when student-run clinics and shelters are no longer necessary.

I happened to stumble upon an article on the SF Chronicle’s website about a design student who has been developing a coat that can transform into a sleeping bag. Veronika Scott, 22, initially designed the coat as part of a project at the Detroit-based College for Creative Studies. After various prototypes–and $2,000 of her own money–she finalized her design: Element S (for survival). During the day, the coat functions just like any other coat. But at night, it can be converted into a sleeping bag in order to help protect the user from inclement weather.

Scott has been further refining the coat design, which utilizes low-cost materials such as Tyvek insulation and wool. Major companies, such as 3M and Dupont, have expressed interest in helping out her cause. Scott plans to sell the coats for a profit to people that are currently housed, and then use those proceeds to offer the coats for free to those living on the streets.

This type of innovation and dedication is exactly what we need if we are seeking to put an end to homelessness. It is encouraging to know that there are people like Veronika who will go great lengths to help those in need. And while it is unlikely that a single product will end homelessness, there is no doubt that Element S will make a positive impact on our country’s most vulnerable. Perhaps in a few years we’ll have the luxury of handing out these coats to some of our clients as we all know how cold and wet it can get during Berkeley winters.

For more information, check out this NPR piece and visit Scott’s website at: http://detroitempowermentplan.blogspot.com/

This past weekend Sandeepa and I made a visit (behind enemy lines!) to Stanford University. The reason: a small group of very dedicated students hosted an informational session about a shelter they are starting up in Palo Alto. We have had some very preliminary talks about starting a shelter here in Berkeley as an extension of The Suitcase Clinic, and we figured this informational session would be useful for us to attend.

The first thing that struck me was the amount of people in attendance; I counted at least thirty students. A sense of optimism and enthusiasm was palpable throughout the info session. I could tell that these students were determined to create a student-run shelter for the unhoused, and that they will continue to work tirelessly until they accomplish their goal. During the brainstorming portion of the session, a lot of great ideas were proposed and I could tell they are certainly headed in the right direction. They plan on opening their undergrad-run shelter later this year with a soft opening, and then to scale-up over the next five years.

After the info session was officially over, Sandeepa and I decided to stick around and talk to the students spearheading this effort. We talked about what we do here at Suitcase and how our experiences and resources could help them out. For example, they are very interested in creating a service-learning course for their volunteers. Lucky for them we’ve had one (HMS 98/198) for years! We then asked them questions that we had about starting up a shelter since we are still very early in the process. It was clear that not only can they learn a lot from us, but that we can learn a lot from them; collaboration between our organizations can only lead to positive outcomes!

Prior to attending this info session, the task of creating a student-run shelter seemed quite daunting. It still looks to be an uphill battle, but it has been done before. Harvard, in fact, has had a student-run shelter since the 1980s called the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter. In addition to Stanford’s on-going effort (view their website here), Villanova is set to open the doors to their own shelter this year as well (check out their Facebook page). It’s very encouraging and exciting to see that students from other universities are working toward a common goal. Perhaps it will be our generation that will finally put an end to homelessness.

CNN recently featured a video about a non-profit in New York City called City Harvest that collects food donations from restaurants to give to those in need. For over 25 years this food rescue organization has been feeding New York’s hungry. Watching this video makes me wonder: why don’t we have a similar program here in Berkeley?

As an organization we do a little to “rescue” food for our clients to eat. For example, every Tuesday one of our clinic coordinators from General Clinic walks over to Noah’s to pick up the weekly bagel donation. Instead of going to waste, these bagels are put to good use: feeding those who walk the streets of Berkeley on empty stomachs. However, I doubt that Noah’s is the only food vendor that is willing to donate left-over food. If there was an organization dedicated to collecting food that is doomed for the dumpster from restaurants in Berkeley, there would be more free meals available to those in need. We love serving dinner at our General Clinic, but due to budget constraints we cannot serve meals as often as we would like. Perhaps some day a food rescue program will come to fruition in Berkeley that would help local clinics serve the underserved with much-needed meals on a more frequent basis.