Detroit nonprofit helps the homeless with sleeping bag coats
Project 10 gives out sleeping bag coats in Detroit
Detroit nonprofit Empowerment Plan is giving away 1,000 sleeping bag coats across 10 US cities.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - It's starting to get cooler outside and we know the harsh winter months, they're right around the corner.
The backstory:
Friday is World Homeless Day and one group is mobilizing to help those without a way to escape the cold. It is the brainchild of the Empowerment Plan.
The nonprofit today packed up some 1,800 empowerment coats which can turn into sleeping bags.
Vanita works on the coats with Empowerment Plan and says it is all about empowering people for economic mobility.
"So we have about 33 fellows on our floor," she said. "Currently we are a two-year workforce development fellowship. We couple paid work experience with wraparound supports and services."
Veronika Scott is the one who spearheaded the project.
"I founded the organization in 2012," she said. "It was a class project of mine actually in college, and I grew up in a situation of homelessness with my family, so that is why it comes from a deeply personal place for me."
Scott showed us how the coats work.
"This is the coat as a winter coat," she said. "But what makes it special, is we have what we call a foot bag that pulls out from inside of the jacket, and this is the sleeping bag component of the coat.
"Right now in the US, there are about 770,000 people experiencing homelessness. That's the highest it's ever been since we've been counting. And at the same time, so we have thousands of people on a waiting list For coats, we're making and distributing about 13,000 this year alone."
Scott says the need has never been higher.
"I can tell you, we also have people on our team right now that are sewing, that actually use the coat at some point to survive an evening, to survive a rough point, and are now here manufacturing them for other people," she said.
It is just one example of what people can do when they have a great idea, when they take their own personal experiences and turn that into action.
The Source: Information for this report is from Empowerment Plan, a Detroit nonprofit that helps the homeless.