When Michael Deschaine of Baden embarked on his Eagle Scout project, he picked a cause that would probably not occur to most middle-class teenagers. He decided to help the homeless.

Michael, 17, a junior at Ambridge Area High School, originally thought he would collect donations to buy and distribute sleeping bags to people on “the street” to help them stay warm through the winter.

He contacted Operation Safety Net, a Pittsburgh-based program that helps the homeless.

Image credit Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

The staff was grateful for his offer, but suggested he take on something bigger that would help in a more meaningful, long-term way.

“I said, ‘Let’s move from the streets to apartments,’ ” said Linda Sheets, program director of Operation Safety Net, a program of the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

Since 2007, the program has gotten 361 clients off the streets and into apartments, “but a lot of them moved into apartments with just what they had on their backs,” Ms. Sheets said.

She suggested that the teen help the formerly homeless furnish their new residences, working with the Streets to Homes initiative of Operation Safety Net. The project gathers basic supplies, including cooking supplies and utensils, bed linens, towels and laundry detergent.

Michael set a goal in early December to collect and distribute household supplies for 10 apartments by April. Instead, he has collected supplies for 17 apartments and made his last deliveries Sunday.

And he went way beyond towels and kitchen utensils. Michael also collected food, televisions, beds, dressers, couches, recliners end tables and other furniture.

Michael and other volunteers delivered food, furniture and other supplies Sunday to furnish three apartments in McKeesport, downtown Pittsburgh and McKees Rocks.

Before Michael’s delivery, one formerly homeless person was living in a nice apartment, but with no furnishings except a sleeping bag. At a fourth stop in Avalon, Michael delivered a table and chairs, bookcase, kitchen shelf, beds, linens and pillows to put the finishing touches on a new residence.

Other collected furnishings were delivered to apartments in December, sometimes during heavy snowstorms, notes Linda Ross, director of communications for Pittsburgh Mercy Health System.

“At one home, he even delivered a Christmas tree,” she said.

Michael would be the first to tell anyone he could do none of this without a lot of volunteer help. His parents, Jim and Cindy, helped on delivery days, as did members of Boy Scouts of America, Baden Troop 405.

More than one recipient had tears in his eyes as the deliveries were made, Mrs. Deschaine said.

Recipients were asked to pick out the items that they needed.

“One man would not pick anything because he said he didn’t want to be greedy,” Mrs. Deschaine said, but the group made sure he received a generous sampling of donations.

Michael’s mother has done work for Covenant House Missouri, an international homeless shelter for young adults 18 to 21 years old. Michael and his brother Matthew, 12, toured the facility last year and were very moved by the experience. That’s when he decided to help the homeless for his Eagle Scout project.

“I started out by sending 150 e-mails” in early December, Michael said. Those were widely forwarded and donations of cash, furniture and home supplies flooded in at a pace so plentiful that he surpassed his earlier goals.

Helping with donations and collections were 30 Boy Scouts from Michael’s troop and his fellow Junior ROTC cadets.

Image credit Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette

Tips for further donations also were appreciated, such as the tip to check out Capo Furniture and Appliance in New Brighton, where used furniture is sold.

“They gave us two big boxes and told us to fill them up with whatever we wanted,” Michael said.

Other tipsters told him to talk to Joe Kuhn, an auctioneer in New Sewickley.

“Mr. Kuhn had truckfuls of stuff and he told us to take whatever we wanted,” Michael said. “He asked us how we were going to pick up and deliver the furniture. We said we were renting a truck. He told us to cancel it,” and he loaned them a truck for all the deliveries, at no charge.

Big donors also included Richard Howard from Passavant Memorial Homes, who donated more than 500 units of food.

On any given day in Allegheny County, there are 1,500 to 2,000 homeless people, about 150 to 200 of them in Pittsburgh, according to Operation Safety Net, which regularly conducts a census of the homeless.

Operation Safety Net relies on donations from companies, foundations and individuals. To learn more about giving opportunities, visit www.pmhs.org or contact Pittsburgh Mercy Health System Development, 724-934-3537.

Article credit Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, written by Linda Wilson Fuoco.

“Featured” banner image courtesy Cindy Deschaine

Leave a Reply