10/19/2006

Chattanooga, Tenn. – As the cold weather sets in, Mayor Ron Littlefield has teamed up with the Community Kitchen to ask Chattanoogans to open their hearts and their linen closets to provide warm blankets for the homeless and poor.  Last year more than two dozen (24) people died on the streets of Chattanooga as victims of homelessness, hunger, joblessness, sickness and in desperation. 

“We only have three blankets left in our thrift store to give away and as we approach the season of cold weather, having a blanket can mean the difference between life and death,” said Charley Hughes, executive director of the Community Kitchen. 

“We are asking everyone to go through their linen closet and find a clean blanket to donate to the community kitchen,” said Mayor Ron Littlefield.  “We are also asking schools, churches and the media to make this a priority to help us get the word out that the homeless are in desperate need of this potentially life saving item.”

Those wanting to donate blankets can bring them to the Community Kitchen on 11th Street or drop them by the Mayor’s Office at 10th and Lindsay Streets.  Mayor Littlefield will be hosting a neighborhood meeting in North Chattanooga Today at the North Side Presbyterian Church, 5:30pm at 923 N. Mississippi Avenue.  Those attending can also bring blankets to the meeting.

Mayor Littlefield, Charley Hughes and many others are working daily to ease the homeless person’s plight in Chattanooga.  Together they are working on the Chattanooga Community Resource Center for the Homeless (CCRC).  Once established, the CCRC and the Community Kitchen will administer a Day Center where the homeless and poor can access much needed services like healthcare, emergency shelter, transitional housing with case management, life skills and vouchers for permanent housing.

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