The Lucky Duck Foundation is once again giving away “sleeping-bag coats” to unsheltered locals. On Monday, December 2, the foundation partnered with Veterans Village of San Diego to give out coats in East Village just outside Petco Park.
Lucky Duck plans to distribute 4,500 coats this winter and will have given out more than 12,500 over the past four years.
The giveaway product is a heavy-duty, weather-resistant coat that can be converted into a sleeping bag. The coats, valued at $150 each, are produced by Empowerment Plan. To date, that Detroit-based nonprofit, which hires homeless individuals to produce the coats, has distributed 85,000 of them across 50 states and 20 countries.
“The coats were immediately well received by people on the streets,” Lucky Duck Foundation CEO Drew Moser says. “We have seen the immense benefit of providing warmth and protection. We’ve heard stories about the coats being life-saving.”
One of the first people to pick up a sleeping-bag coat outside Petco Park was Eric Williams, a 57-year-old veteran who has been on and off the streets over the years. He says he previously lived in the “tent city” near Balboa Park but left after five weeks. Williams says he was put off by the “elements of criminal activity and the meth” at what is called The O Lot, a Safe Camping Site funded by the city of San Diego.
This is the second coat Williams has owned.
“I used it mainly for the rain and cold,” he says. “It’s quick to put on and it keeps everything dry, even my pockets. We had a lot of rain last year.”
On Tuesday, December 3, Lucky Duck will give out the coats at the weekly dinner for homeless individuals in Pacific Beach run by the nonprofit We See You San Diego.
That dinner, which usually attracts 200 guests, was created to be a relationship-building event to help connect unsheltered people to services, particularly for alcohol and drug addiction.
We See You San Diego is currently seeking a new site for its trust-building dinners. Anyone with a suggestion for a new site should contact Executive Director Laura Chez. SDSun
