This past Thursday, October 25, I experienced my very first Community Connect event at the Damiano Center. If you could’ve seen how exhausted the staff and volunteers were after, you would only begin to understand how much planning, coordination and hard work went into the day. Guests started to pour into our doors before the event even started. My job was to check in volunteers and walk around during the event to help guests and organizations.
There were so many volunteers that we quickly had no positions to be filled! The event was a well-oiled machine that couldn’t stop and it was so amazing to watch it unfold. There were many services for guests: people to cut their hair, free winter coats and other gear, flu vaccines, warrant resolutions, IDs and birth certificates, and the opportunity to participate in the Wilder Housing and Homelessness study and VI-SPDATS, which help people who are homeless to get housing. We wanted to give our guests many services that they otherwise may have difficulty or inability to access. Not an inch of space was unused and the guests certainly used all of the services that were offered. At Community Connect, we offered all of these services completely free of charge:
101 hair trims
105 Wilder surveys
450 coats
40 flu vaccines
22 birth certificates
15 IDs
40 VI-SPDATs completed
Resolution of 31 outstanding warrants
Hundreds of hygiene items, other winter gear, and socks
Community Connect was started back in 2006. This year, the event was planned in collaboration with the Salvation Army and Loaves and Fishes. We were completely blown away by the numbers after we tallied them up at the end. Seeing guests with a smile on their face after they just got a new haircut, their own ID or birth certificate and clothes that will help them bear Duluth’s grueling winter is why we love doing what we do. An event like this gives those who are homeless or living in poverty the peace of mind they need to not only live their lives comfortably, but improve them as well.
That WildAs the Minnesota Wild come out of their bunker after getting destroyed by the Colorado Avalanche, they might be getting some reinforcements on Monday night, as Marcus Johansson is nearing his return back from injury https://www.storeminnesotaonline.com/Matt_Bartkowski_T_shirt-15. Cam Talbot will start tomorrow vs the Ducks. Marcus Johansson may return. He practiced fully on Ek-Greenway line today mnwild. The Wild have been one of the more interesting teams in the NHL in the first half of the season, so where do we go from here [The Athletic]It going to be hard https://www.storeminnesotaonline.com/Carson_Soucy_Flag-103, but Minnesota are working to overcome the two horrendous losses to the Avalanche. [StarTribune]Off the trail. . . With the trade deadline a few weeks away, a cou…