On Target for the Homeless

It took about two hours and $2,500 to load up merchandise for care packages for the homeless Friday at Target in Reston.

That purchase, and similar purchases at three other area Target stores, amounted to around $7,500. They're part of a larger effort called "On Target: Giving Back to Get People Home,"sponsored by the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Partnership on Preventing and Ending Homelessness.

The merchandise includes toothbrushes, dental floss, soap, deodorant, laundry detergent, trash bags, antibacterial wipes, paper towels and kitchen sponges – purchased at the four Target stores and separately provided by foundations – will be sorted into the care packages Saturday at the Fairfax County Government Center.

More than 500 homeless children and adults will receive the care packages. The merchandise was paid for with grant money.

"I think this is a great cause," said David Herlihy, manager of the Reston Target store.

Friday's purchases at Target  and Saturday's sorting event at the government center are part of a larger effort to end homelessness in Fairfax County within the next decade.

Preventing and ending homelessness is possible, but support from the business community is needed, said Dean Klein, director of the Fairfax County office to Prevent and End Homelessness.

"We're moving forward with a significant business engagement effort," he said. "We're very heavily committed to reducing the numbers of homeless."

That's a challenge in affluent Fairfax County. Over 60 percent of adults living in family homeless shelters in the county are employed, Klein said. The county has six homeless shelters – three of which are for families only, and another serves both families and single people. One of the shelters, the is located in Reston.

About a quarter of families in Fairfax County struggle to meet basic needs for housing and food, said Abby Kimble, the director of communications and outreach for Reston Interfaith, one of the eight non-profit agencies involved in Friday and Saturday's events.

"A lot of people in terms of being able to find affordable housing are a little bit landlocked in this area," she said.

The county's homeless prevention office started work 15 months ago. It is in the first 150 days of working with local non-profit agencies to implement a new model for preventing homelessness, Klein said. The plan focuses on housing, because if homeless families or individuals can secure housing, providing them other services later is more likely to succeed.

"We have collectively prevented 338 households from becoming homeless," he said. "A lot of that has bee done through the use of financial resources in providing rental subsidies for those who are right on the brink of being homeless."

Interested in volunteering to put items into packages tomorrow? Meet at the Fairfax County Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway,  starting at 9 a.m. Saturday.