Palo Alto Friends Meeting will be helping to host the Hotel de Zink homeless shelter throughout the month of December, 2023. Hotel de Zink has provided emergency housing for unhoused members of our community continuously since the 1990’s. It was started in 1931 and named in honor of Palo Alto Police Chief de Zink an enthusiastic advocate for homeless people during the Great Depression.

     Hotel de Zink is hosted each month by a different local faith community, with organizational help from Life Moves.

     Our contribution in December will be to provide dinner every evening for 15 guests plus additional food items for breakfast and lunch. The Highway Church at 3373 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto will be providing the housing, so our task is to bring dinner each evening to that location. The dinner drop-off time is between 7:00 p.m. and 7:15 p.m. each evening. The online signup sheet for bringing food describes what sort of dinner (or other food) is needed, along with instructions for dropping it off. A follow-up email will provide further directions.

     For more information, contact any of the HdZ working group members – Mary Pat (marypat.oconnell@gmail.com), Karen B (bobonich@yahoo.com), Rita C. (ravrita@gmail.com) or Forest P. (moriiii@ yahoo.com). You can send donations for holiday gift cards for guests or to help Highway Church with utilities and other expenses to Forest (see address in PAFM Directory), or venmo donations to Mary Pat at @MaryPat-OConnell-1.

     Thank you greatly for your help with providing dinners and other food.

     Homelessness is a serious problem in our area, and Hotel de Zink provides crucial emergency help for people who have nowhere else to sleep.