On Dec 17th, 2017, the classroom in San Bao Temple was overflowing with bags containing winter clothing for the homeless and low-income family. Since the announcement on Dec 3rd that the temple will be accepting winter clothing donations, bags of clothing poured in from the neighbors around the temple, temple devotees and their many friends and family members. Over 650 pieces of clothing were donated over the short two weeks.
The donation drive was organized by Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) San Francisco Subchapter, San Francisco Young Adult Division (SFYAD) and the English Buddhism Class of San Bao Temple, in conjunction with San Bao Temple. It was the 3rd time that such a drive is being organized at the temple.
12 volunteers came together in the classroom on the 17th, the last day of the drive, to sort and categorize all the donation into categories of jackets, sweaters, pants, blankets, etc. They also made sure all the clothes were of good quality for donation. The volunteers included four children from the temple’s Sunday Children’s Class, with the youngest being only 7 years old. As clothes were being sorted, another regular devotee of the temple came by the classroom with more bags of clothes.
The volunteers loaded all the sorted bags of clothing into cars and drove to Saint Anthony’s Foundation, located at 150 Golden Gate Ave at the heart of San Francisco. The foundation’s Free Clothing Program is San Francisco’s largest free clothing program, providing warm clothes, interview or employment apparel, and children’s clothing to homeless and low-income families and individuals.
For volunteering with SFYAD, please contact us at https://www.sfyad.org/contact-1 For bi-weekly Sunday English Buddhism Class or weekly Sunday Children’s Class, please contact sanbaotemple.sf@gmail.com