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April 23, 1999/7 Iyar 5759, Vol. 51, No. 30
Youth dedicates time, energy to helping homeless children
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Phoenix City Councilman Tom Milton (District 2) and Abby Weinzer pass out new sleeping bags, stuffed animals and toiletries donated by local companies to Operation Sleep Sac, a charity founded by Weinzer that supplies these items to homeless children and teenagers.
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The desert can be a cruel place on a winter's night, especially in downtown Phoenix. Concrete and asphalt grasp hold of the air's bitter chill, as homeless people huddle in the streets, underdressed, cold, hungry and vulnerable.
Abby Weinzer was only 5 years old when she got her first look at this harsh reality. Her late father, Steven, would take her downtown to visit children living in homeless shelters, and to give them her toys and books.
Later Weinzer and her mother, Cathy; uncle, Scott; and brother, Chad, made occasional trips to downtown soup kitchens to serve food to homeless diners.
Weinzer's exposure to the world of homelessness made her aware that some children would never have a winter coat or a warm place to sleep.
"The images really stuck with me," says the now-14-year-old. "A lot of children were hugging themselves to stay warm, and it was the dead of winter. I knew that somehow, I wanted to make a difference."
Weinzer, a Phoenix native and freshman at Horizon High School in Phoenix, has made that difference for underprivileged children throughout the Valley. Through a plan she first devised two years ago, Weinzer has given hundreds of homeless children in the Valley the chance to sleep in brand new sleeping bags, own new stuffed animals and have their own toiletries.
Her project is called Operation Sleep Sac.
Weinzer first walked door-to-door to sporting and department stores, asking store managers to donate back-stock sleeping bags, toiletries and stuffed animals.
"(They told me) that they already did a lot of charity work, and if I wanted to, I could send a proposal to their main offices, but it would probably be a year until they could even look at it," she recalls. "They basically were telling me I had no chance because I was a kid. Some even thought I was looking for free sleeping bags to take on a camping trip."
Weinzer didn't give up. She says she kept the children she wanted to help in the back of her mind, unwilling to let them down.
Within a year, she got her wish.
Things turned around in 1998, when Weinzer won an Outstanding Young Woman Award from the City of Phoenix for her work with the disabled through the Pilot Parent Partnership. At the awards luncheon, she met District 2 Councilman Tom Milton. When the two met again, filming a television segment about district events, Weinzer shared with him her plans for Operation Sleep Sac.
Milton was enthusiastic and optimistic, Weinzer says, and offered to back the plan with the power of his office.
Home Base Youth Services, a Phoenix charity that serves youth ages 18 to 21, agreed to accept donations on behalf of Sleep Sac. Once Home Base was involved, donations poured in for Sleep Sac. Home Base contracted with a local camping supply store to buy sleeping bags at cost. The Arizona Biltmore supplied the first round of toiletries; the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix sold the project stuffed animals at cost; and members of the public, including school children, have donated money.
An Awahtukee elementary school presented a check for $1,852. At Temple Beth Israel in Scottsdale, where Weinzer became a bat mitzvah and attends Sunday school, the Mark L. Haberkorn Religious School has collected tzedakah (charity) of $200. Beth Israel Hazzan Howard Tabaknek pitched in $100 from his discretionary fund.
In its first year of operation, Sleep Sac has raised more than $10,000. Milton says he expects to raise $50,000 during 1999. He and Weinzer are in the process of filing the program as an independent 501C(3) charitable corporation, he says.
"For the first time, I see that all of my efforts have (paid off) and that this is going to work," Weinzer says. She credits support from Milton and her family with helping her achieve her dream. "Doing this has raised my spirits and has brought me closer to Judaism," she says.
Weinzer also now serves as a member of the City of Phoenix Mayor's Commission for Youth.
"I am down at City Hall at least once a month," she says. "Basically, I'm a student all day, and when I come home, I become a businessperson and a charity worker."
Aside from her plans to see Sleep Sac "go on for years and years," Weinzer hopes to study medicine, and then to help homeless people who need medical attention.
Maybe one day, she says, Sleep Sac will expand to a national level.
"From what I have seen (Weinzer) do, there is certainly potential for that," says Milton. "She is just incredible. When I was 13, I certainly wasn't thinking about homeless kids. It's really inspiring."
But to Weinzer, the joy she finds in helping others makes it all worthwhile.
"Whatever obstacles I had previously, or that I face in the future, it's worth it to see that one little kid smiling, or that one mother or father telling me, 'You've made my child so happy. Thank you.' "
Donations to Operation Sleep Sac may be mailed to: City of Phoenix, City Council Office, 11th Floor, 200 W. Washington, Phoenix 85003. Monetary donations, new sleeping bags, new stuffed animals and unused toiletries are welcomed. For more information, call Councilman Tom Milton's office at (602) 262-7445.
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