TUCSON, Ariz. — Multiple agencies across Tucson have teamed up to help the homeless.
Six months ago, the Tucson Police Department created a new homeless outreach unit to help bridge the gap between the homeless and resources available for them.
"Society has kind of deemed it a criminal problem, but it is more of a societal problem because these people need help," Sergeant Jack Julsing, TPD Supervisor for Homeless Outreach, said. "It’s a complex issue. Not an easy quick, fix, solve. It requires several different resources collaborating together."
They're working with the Tucson Collaborative Community Care Team, or TC-3, to hand out COVID-19 supply kits.
There are 250 bags, each with hand sanitizer, multiple masks, water, snacks, socks, toilet paper and a flier with resources in the community.
"Initially, we started acting like a couple months (the pandemic), but now we realize that we could be here a lot longer than anyone expected," Captain Chris Don with TFD and TC-3 said. "We wanted to come up with creative ways to keep people as safe as we can in the long term."
The money for the kit were funded from a 12,000 dollar grant given to TC-3.
TPD and TC-3 are always taking donations from the community to help keep their programs going.
