Reaching out to the homeless

Driven to help, members of Steele Creek Outreach hit the road
Publication: THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
Page: B1
Reporter: By Celeste Smith
Date: 2/12/2010


Nichole Jaworski still remembers her eighth-grade school trip, from New Jersey to Washington, D.C., when teachers warned students: There are going to be homeless people on the street. Don't look at them.

Ignoring homeless people, she thought then, "is a horrible thing to teach."

Which might explain why Jaworski goes so much out of her way to help people in need.

She is co-founder of Steele Creek Outreach. The southwest Mecklenburg volunteer group, in the 30-something age range - has become a hub for charitable giving in that area. Since it formed last September, the group has collected about 2,000 articles of clothing, and more than 600 cans of food for monthly donations to two shelters.

This month, the group assembled 70 "goody bags" for the homeless, in a project that might become the group's signature. Paper lunch sacks, stamped with the Steele Creek Outreach name, are loaded with hand warmers, granola bars, ChapStick, crackers, water, hand wipes and mints. The sacks are delivered to the group Hats and Gloves, which distributes them to homeless people living in Charlotte streets.

Jaworski and fellow co-founder Melissa Caywood say the outreach group relies heavily on donations from neighbors and friends in Berewick. The community of middle- to upper-class homes, between I-485 and Lake Wylie, is not exactly an area known for street homelessness.

But the cause speaks personally to the group's hundreds of donors, and its volunteers - 39 and counting.

"I don't want them to get lost out there, " Caywood says of people in need.

The idea behind Steele Creek Outreach came last year, when Jaworski started blogging about her family's efforts to help the homeless and children with illnesses. Later, she and Caywood, who knew each other from the neighborhood, decided to work together in a community effort.

Since then, word has spread through Facebook and the group's Web sites. Other groups, including Steele Creek Moms and the "Project Lead the Way" class at Olympic High School, made large donations of goods.

But the "outreach" part of the group's name stems not only from its Internet efforts but from members hitting the streets too. This week, they were off to Rock Hill, to drop off cleaning supplies at Pilgrim's Inn women's shelter.

On Saturday, they head into Charlotte to deliver Valentine goody bags to children at a Salvation Army party. They make regular trips into Charlotte to make drop-offs at shelters. And members want to make even more trips throughout Charlotte, to help other neighborhoods form their own outreach groups.

Last week, Urban Ministry Center in Charlotte went to the outreach group. Jason Helms, director of operations, picked up 50 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and 50 canned goods for the soup kitchen. It took 30 minutes to get to Jaworski's home, but he knew the trip would be worth it.

"I think it's great, " Helms said. "If any of these outreach ministries (are) popping up in suburban neighborhoods, I say go for it. If we don't have it, that means we have to buy it."
Captions: Amy Coleman carries a box of household items to be donated to Urban Ministries. Since it launched last year, the Steele Creek Outreach has become a hub in southwest Mecklenburg for donations to the homeless and a source for Charlotte ministries that help the homeless. Steele Creek Outreach delivered cleaning supplies this week.

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