Help clothe Denver's homeless

Occupy Denver has been protesting the Urban Camping Ban that makes it illegal for people to  be homeless in Denver for over four years.  We hold a weekly Community Meal on Friday evenings at businesses on the busy 16th St. mall that support the ban through their membership in the Downtown Denver Partnership. The DDP is Denver's powerful lobby for the interests of the businesses in LODO that convinced city hall to  pass the ban  and keep it on the books.   As a result, numerous homeless people have been told to "move along" to sleep at somewhere that does not exist (there aren't near enough shelter beds for everyone) and are arrested if they don't move on fast enough or refuse.  Everything they own that is not in their hands is taken from them  supposedly as evidence of a crime, except that it is put into a  trash truck and compacted.  The city still lies about taking their possessions on the grounds that they represent a "public health hazard".  When they get ouf of jail with still no place to live and no possessions, they need our help and advocacy.

We have convinced the Snooze Restaurant, the Palm Restaurant, and the Tattered Cover Bookstore to drop their memberships in the DDP after some time.  Now we are at the Rock Bottom Brewery at 16th and Curtis with a hot, home cooked full meal at 5:30  every Friday, forcing the customers and management to  actually see homeless people and hear us explain the ban and how cruel and unconstitutional it is.   We also bring sleeping bags, blankets, and clothing to give to them to replace what has been taken. 

I have been attempting to provided warm, clean, intact clothing to them for several months but have gotten to the point where I have no resources for clothing and am running short on nearly everything.   I can get some clothing from the ARC and Goodwill if I have an EIN number to establish Resurrection Clothing as a not-for-profit agency, so I am asking for help to raise the funds to pay for the EIN number so I can establish my charity as a non-profit. 

I intend  to apply for a grant through the Denver Foundation, but funds won't be awarded until later this spring and homeless people need clothing on an ongoing basis.  This will get me started.  When I do get a grant, I plan to buy an old van that I can use to carry clothes to the free laundry and shower trucks and to shelters.  While there are clothing banks  at some shelters and the Coalition for the Homeless, I intend to take the clothing to where the people are while feeding them and protesting the Urban Camaping Ban.   Help us end this inhumane, unconstitutional ban by getting businesses out of the DDP. and empowering the homeless to speak up for themselves.  We  now have two cases in district court to address the constitutional  issues behind the ban, but it is unknown when they will be heard and the ban shut down by law.  

Thank you on behalf of Denver's street homeless for your help.