It’s all about connections, Emily Myers said.
When folks at Heer to Serve’s storage facility found out that Myers gives furniture to people moving from homelessness to housing, the employees offered items that get cleared out of abandoned units.
Every other week, Myers and volunteers for their Heer to Serve mutual-aid organization set up tables for people to come get a hot meal, packaged food, clothing or hygiene products. Other weeks, they take the goods they have to offer out to encampments where people without shelter stay overnight.
It’s all about connections, Myers said, and they don’t want to miss the opportunity to connect with people who, for whatever reason, are unable or unwilling to come to them.
“Let me show you this,” Myers said, pulling out their phone to show the kind of connection that brings joy to all through this effort. They found a text thread from a woman who recently heard from a cousin offering help and support.
It’s all about connections.
Myers, who experienced homelessness as an 18-year-old and suffered the loss of an aunt who froze to death outside a shelter in West Virginia, created Heer to Serve as an outgrowth of efforts to collect and distribute goods on their own.
The name pays homage to Heer Park, which was closed by Columbus city officials in 2021 and then cleared of nearby homeless encampments a year later.
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The former park on the Far South Side is where Myers began handing out items from the trunk of their car. That trunk is still full, most recently with bottles of shampoo donated by Sally Beauty Supply because of a misprint on the label.
Volunteers turned donated shirts from another retailer into tie-dyed designs that are sold to raise money for the group.
Restaurants and other business donate food. Supporters donate money and other goods. Heer to Serve was a grant recipient from Comfest in 2023.
“It’s all hustle, bustle, barter, trade,” Myers said. “We’ve been operating for four years on no budget.”
People who wish to connect with Heer to Serve can find the organization online at Heer2Serve.org or on Facebook or Instagram under “Heer to Serve.”
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Heer to Serve helps unhoused people in Columbus get food, other goods
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