Alice's Blessing Bags is helping the homeless one blessing bag at a time
UNIONTOWN, Pa. (KDKA) - Fred Rogers once famously said that when you see something scary, you should look for the helpers. Well, a few years ago, one Uniontown teen didn't just see something she didn't like and went to find a helper, she became the helper.
For 15-year-old Alice Frankhouser, helping the homeless started when she was just 11 years old. On a cold winter night, she noticed a homeless person sleeping at a Uniontown bus stop.
"I asked my mom if she had to stay there all night, and my mom said yes," Frankhouser said. "So we happened to be on the way to Target and when we got to Target we made her a little bag of things. And we drove back down into the town, and I gave it to her and she was like, 'Thank you, you're so kind. And that's what inspired me to make Alice's Blessing Bags."
The bags are draw sting packs with everything in them from hand warmers to toiletries, to socks, hats, blankets, and water.
With the help of a Facebook page and a link to an Amazon wish list, people have been purchasing and shipping items to Alice for her to pack and distribute.
Over the past four years Alice, along with her friends and family, have handed out hundreds of blessing bags and she says the response from the community has been incredible.
"In school, sometimes I would hear people talking about how homeless people should just get jobs," Frankhouser said. "But it is really not that simple because there is mental health and sometimes people don't have a support system, and some people can't get off drugs. So, when the community sees what I see, it makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I am helping someone because I am very blessed to have a home and parents who support me. To share that with other people is a blessing."
If you would like to help fill a blessing bag, click here for more information.
