WANTED: Menswear & Footwear! 👔👕👖👞👟🥾

Wonder WHY we are asking for your assistance generating more menswear & men's footwear donations?

Within the first 15 minutes of our January New Year CHEER event, our inventory of men's clothing and shoes was depleted!🤷🏽‍♀️ And we still had another hour and 45 minutes to provide for over 150 less fortunate.🤦🏾‍♀️

Here are some facts that support why the need for men's items is greater than ever:

Homelessness in America is largely a gendered phenomenon.

Men are the overwhelming majority of individuals counted in the HUD-required annual Point-in-Time Count. They are also more likely than women to be unsheltered.

Ending homelessness requires a better understanding of the issues that cause so many men to become homeless, and the particular housing, employment, and services solutions that would best end their homelessness.  

Sixty-seven percent of all people experiencing homelessness within the 2018 Point-in-Time (PiT) Count are individuals.

There are 260,284 homeless men compared to 106,119 women.

Thus, men are the majority of individuals experiencing homelessness (70 percent) followed by women (29 percent). The final 1 percent are transgender and non-binary individuals discussed in the first installment of this series.

While the weather may contribute to a seasonal increase, Central Florida homelessness is up by 75 percent since the start of the pandemic largely due to evictions, according to the Homeless Service Network.

Between 2021 and 2022, the number of those living without shelter grew by 38 percent.

In 2022, about 60.6 percent of the estimated number of homeless individuals in the US were male.

By the numbers: In the 2023 count, Florida reported 15,482 unsheltered people, or 6% of the national total of people living in places not meant for human habitation.

The state also had some of the nation's largest increases in families with children and veterans experiencing homelessness between 2022 and 2023.

In 2022, Florida ranked third for the_ highest homeless population in the U.S., with a total of 25,959 individuals.

So, please consider tackling your annual spring closet cleaning earlier!👍🏼😊

Your donations help provide much-needed essentials to our JAX area homeless who count on our support every third Sunday of the month -- Super Sunday Lineups help those less fortunate Get Back Up Again!

If you don't have any gently used men's clothing and shoes, please consider a tax-deductible monetary gift to our cause using Cash App, a free download:

$getbackupagainooh

Your generous time, support, and commitment to our mission are sincerely appreciated!