THE CITIZEN UPDATES: CITIZEN OF THE WEEK SARA GATTI

From: The Philadelphia Citizen

“If you are homeless, feeling down, and it’s the holidays, you might feel like you don’t have much,” Gatti says. “I hope that people who are getting these items are feeling the love from their communities.”

As she started knitting last year, Gatti called The Citizen’s Social Action Team for advice on where to donate her winter items. Making these connections, to help Philadelphians make their city better, is part of our mission. We connected her with ProjectHOME, which said it needed scarves, hats and headbands.

ProjectHOME spokeswoman Laura Weinbaum says grassroots involvement and community engagement, like Gatti’s, is crucial to helping the homeless in Philly. It is often residents who connect the homeless in their neighborhoods to ProjectHOME. “The citizens are our eyes and ears,” Weinbaum says, adding that the nonprofit relies on individuals and private organizations for both funding and hands-on support. “We usually ask individuals to donate, advocate, and volunteer. We have hundreds of volunteers who help make what we do possible.”