We are raising money to build a new facility for Sub Zero Mission that serves the homeless community and any donation will help make an impact.
The Sub Zero Mission’s motto is NOBODY SHOULD FREEZE TO DEATH IN AMERICA. The mission collects warming items, called Stay Alive 5 (coats, hats, boots, gloves and sleeping bags) and finds people who are not in the shelters. SZM helps every person found, but are looking for veterans among the homeless. When they are found, SZM finds ways to stay in contact with them and re-find them so that they can be brought in and into contact with the VA and other resources that are available to them. SZM helps them to get off of the street and out of the woods permanently by acting as their advocates, making phone calls and generally working any angle found to help them.
Because of the great outpouring of support from communities and organizations, SZM has grown and is now in need of a larger building. The goal of this building will be to have larger storage areas for the inventory of the Stay Alive 5 items as well as the ability to keep their two buses inside.
SZM is located in Northeast Ohio and with the winter months upon us there is a great need to be able to bring the buses inside where they can be loaded out of the elements of wind, rain and snow. Further, by having the buses inside, it will reduce the cost of continued maintenance. These buses are the primary source that helps SZM be successful in the delivery of warming items to the homeless. The buses are diesel and therefore they need to be plugged into an electric source. By having them located inside the building, this will help to reduce the warm up time needed when preparing to take them out on a mission. This new building is an essential part of the continued success of The Sub Zero Mission. Please help so that they can continue to help the homeless during this winter months. To give you a better understanding of this 501C3 non-profit organization, The Sub Zero Mission was started in Leroy Ohio by two individuals who are veterans themselves. They learned that there was a veteran living under a bridge in a nearby town while having dinner together at their local VFW. On this particular night, it was snowing and cold, as is often the case in northeast Ohio. It was one of those nights where you actually take a moment to be grateful that you have a home and roof over your head. These two veterans decided that they were going to do something about it.
They went to their homes and collected old field jackets, shelter halfs, boots, hats, gloves and other items and went out and found that veteran. It turned out that there were two of them. One was a Navy vet and the other had served for a short time in the Air Force. Neither would go the local shelter, but they were happy to take the items that were brought. Once that story was told to others, friends began to bring items that they had, and, from there The Sub Zero Mission was born.
The initial delivery was 12 years ago. As the 2019 season finished, it amazed everyone on what this “little” mission had grown into. Last year, SZM served in 6 states, 21 cities and handed out over 15,000 warming items. They logged over 5500 miles between their two buses and over 2000 volunteer hours.
To date, they have helped 21 veterans get off of the streets permanently. They now have two buses that carry a driver and two - four men foot teams wherever they go. There are no woods, bridges or alleys that they won’t go into if there is a chance that a veteran, or any person, is sleeping in the cold. The Sub Zero Mission is 100% donation driven. No member of the Board of Directors nor the CEO, receives any compensation. They are a true charity that will make do with about 50 volunteers and 4 dedicated, part-time, employees, two of which are also veterans.
Help us build a facility that will continue to help the homeless.
More information about Sub Zero Mission:
www.subzeromission.org
guidestar.org/profile/45-4386322
charitynavigator.org/ein/454386322