AHS launches second annual backpack drive

CALGARY – Alberta Health Services (AHS) staff and their partners who work with Calgary’s homeless population are asking Calgarians to donate new or used empty backpacks.

The backpacks will be distributed to homeless individuals so they have somewhere safe to store important belongings, such as identification, medications, job applications and personal mementos.

Backpacks can be dropped off weekdays at:

• The Sunridge Professional Centre (2675 36 St. N.E., Unit 201) between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m
• The Operational Stress Injury Clinic (#203, Market Mall Office Centre) between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
• The Safe Communities Opportunity and Resource Centre, or SORCe (316 7 Ave. S.E. on the City Hall LRT platform) between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
• Pathways To Housing (7245 12 St. S.E.) between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

There are about 3,500 homeless people in Calgary, which is more than half of Alberta’s homeless population, and the 90 homeless veterans in Calgary comprise about one-third of Canada’s homeless veteran population.

Alberta Health Services is the provincial health authority responsible for planning and delivering health supports and services for more than four million adults and children living in Alberta. Its mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible and sustainable for all Albertans.

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