December 2022

OPPOSITE PAGE: Lucky Duck Street outreach. THIS PAGE, TOP: Volunteer food-and-water outreach. BOTTOM: The Midway District Bridge Shelter.

Cash for Trash: A pilot program enabled unsheltered people living near downtown’s East Village and Barrio Logan to earn $2 for every bag of trash they brought to dumpsters set up in the area. Two days a week for four months, participants brought in more than 44 tons of trash. The pilot program was well-received. It went on a hiatus but was reinstated in September 2022. Job training: In 2022, Lucky Duck launched its second $1-million investment in regional job training opportunities. Graduates of the program earn a laptop computer and are exposed to job opportunities in tech, tech support and warehouse operations. Employment opportunities: Good Morning America featured an employment program in which local Salvation Army shelter residents get jobs as food rescue route drivers for Feeding San Diego. In June 2022, this Lucky Duck effort reached a milestone: More than 500,000 tons of food were rescued and delivered. And, all graduates of the jobs initiative were fully employed and housed. Lucky Ducklings: In its first year, the Lucky Ducklings program included more than 100 high school students who committed to the foundation’s mission. The youths volunteered more than 500 hours, created handwritten cards, raised money and pitched ideas “Shark Tank”-style on their own concepts for new Lucky Duck fundraising programs. Shamrocks & Shipwrecks: Similar to the “Orchids & Onions” public campaign run by the San Diego Architectural Foundation, Lucky Duck rolled out its own recognition program in September 2022 for good and bad initiatives related to homelessness. Shea says the Shamrocks & Shipwrecks program will not be afraid to call out politicians who are only delivering lip service. “We want to see real work done,” he says. “We’re going to call out the politicians. You wanted the job? Do the job. Don’t rely on public relations.”

“We’ve purchased massive, structures— bridge shelters. We have a food-and-water program that reaches a thousand people a day . And we distribute winter coats that fold out into sleeping bags.”

85 CHARITABLE SD GIVING GUIDE 2023 SDMAG.COM/CGG

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