Maranatha Student Raises Money for Homeless



Joanna Popoff

The Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter was founded in 1987 after 9 homeless people died of hypothermia that winter. It is located in the gym of the Pasadena Covenant Church on Lake Ave and is open every night in January and February, and is weather activated (for cold or rain) during the months of December and March. The Bad Weather Shelter is funded by the City of Pasadena, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, ECPAC (Ecumenical Council Pasadena Area Congregational), and private donations.

Last year, the Bad Weather Shelter housed 855 unduplicated individuals, including 107 children over the course of 72 days. Junior Joanna Popoff and a team of her friends have raised $8,000 to date for the 2012-13 Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter with the hopes of raising much more. The shelter costs $110,000 a year to operate, but funding was cut in half this year due to the economic downturn. Joanna’s team of student philanthropists are supporting the shelter by talking to businesses and banks and asking them to donate, raising publicity for the shelter through news articles on their campaign, selling “Friends of the Bad Weather Shelter” t-shirts, and volunteering regularly at the shelter.

Joanna says, “The shelter is important because every night people receive a hot meal and a safe, dry place to sleep. Many times families come because they have no other place to go – they have no money and can’t pay their rent.” Joanna has been very inspired by volunteering at the shelter and just recently met a family with 5 kids (2 of which are pictured at right). The father is disabled and out of work and unable to pay rent. The family has benefited greatly from the shelter.

If you’d like to purchase one of Joanna’s t-shirts or support the Pasadena Bad Weather Shelter in another way, please click here http://www.ecpac.net/FriendsOfBWS.html.

 

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