Hi everyone, 

My name is Claudia Natasia and I'm a MBA student at the Berkeley Haas School of Business. On behalf of a few students, I'm starting this campaign to fundraise for the Berkeley homeless community. 

Last year, as I was walking to my car after a dinner with friends at Berkeley, I stopped to talk with a homeless person who has the sweetest dog. He was building a tiny mobile home that he could pull around out of wood for his dog to sleep in when it rains.

Last weekend, I saw him and his dog again, one block from the Berkeley farmers market. We talked for a bit and I learned that while the holiday is a time of celebration for many, the drop in temperature means increasing strains on the health and safety of the homeless community. Shelters are overcrowded and resources become extremely scarce and not available to everyone.

Because of this, a group of Berkeley Haas MBA students and I are raising funds to create and distribute bags of essentials to homeless encampments around the Berkeley area. 

The bags will include the following and potentially a few more items: 

- Socks 

- Hand Sanitizer Wipes 

- Water Bottles 

- Masks

- Dried Foods (i.e. breakfast bars, dried fruits, cracker kits) 

- Feminine Hygiene Products (for women) 

- Pet Food (for those with pets) 

- Gloves 

Important Notes:

1. We will be distributing these bags in mid-December and will keep track and share our expenses from the funds we generate through this campaign on the gofundme page. 

2. We will donate any remaining funds to the Berkeley Food Bank. 

3. With rising COVID cases, in order to keep safe, we will always wear mask as we distribute the bags throughout the community. 

Thank you so much for your generosity.  

We're all in this together! 

Sincerely, 

Claudia Natasia, Aayush Agrawal, Supriya Golas