Posted on Dec. 20: Operation Shoebox helps Hamilton’s homeless

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/operation_shoebox.jpg” caption=”Operation Shoebox”]Nursing students helped perform an important operation this week.

In fact, approximately 200 homeless are going to benefit from it.

The second annual Operation Shoebox Christmas, an initiative led by M.A.C. Door and Mac SOC, delivered Christmas in a shoebox to Hamilton's homeless community.

Nearly 100 volunteers from the School of Nursing, staff, faculty and the community filled close to 200 shoeboxes with gloves, hats, socks and Christmas candy, which they distributed this week.

“Some participants gathered their friends to make a shoebox donation,” says Dyanne Semogas, assistant professor and clinical director of M.A.C. Door. “Others made the shoebox drive into a family activity enlisting the imagination of their children. Still others in the spirit of Saint Nicholas gathered their church group to fill once empty shoeboxes with donations of socks, mittens, scarves, gift certificates, bus tickets, toiletries, fruit, toys and chocolates.”

On Wednesday, Dec. 18, street youth participating in the M.A.C. Door project, received the shoeboxes as a gift from the McMaster community and Mac SOC volunteers distributed shoeboxes to the homeless community in Hamilton at their regular Wednesday evening outreach clinic at St. John's Evangelical Church.

McMaster Student Outreach Clinic (Mac SOC) offers food, clothing and access to health info to homeless in downtown Hamilton on Wednesday evenings at St. John's Evangelistic Church.

MAC Door helps street youth aged 16 to 25 build a life away from the streets. This is a federally funded research project that pays street kids to make changes in their lifestyle, one day at a time. Other resources, such as job hunting skills, are also offered.

Photo caption: Fourth-year nursing student Rosie Yoon and Clyde, a participant in the MAC Door project, help distribute shoeboxes at the annual Operation Shoebox Christmas. Photo credit: Dyanne Semogas