A mid-state woman has created YaiPak to help homeless in Clarksville and Nashville through her own experience of being homeless.
A small warehouse full of everything anyone would need in Clarksville has become more like a piece of Sherry Nicholson's heart.
It's a labor of love and it all began about two years ago when she noticed a homeless woman sitting on a bench in Nashville.
"The reason it moved me is because I was homeless with my two children. I ran from domestic violence. I had no family support, no where to go," Nicholson recalled.
While that was more than 25 years ago she remembers needing to pack a bag full of essentials. "I pulled purses out from underneath my bed and I packed it with everything that I would've needed," said Nicholson.
That purse full of essential items has grown into YaiPaks, a year round street ministry that helps the homeless in Clarksville and Nashville.
"This is a God thing," she said with tears in her eyes. "He has done every bit of it."
This holiday, they're collecting essential items that will be stuffed into stockings and then handed out to the homeless where they live. YaiPaks is collecting wool socks, sleeping bags, winter jackets, boots, gloves, batteries, matches, knives, water, card games, sweaters and other items that will keep folks warm in the cold.
"We're gonna fill that stocking with everything they could possibly use," said Nicholson.
To learn how to help or donate Visit the YaiPak Outreach website, call the YaiPak office at 931-701-0707 or Nicholson can be reached by email at YAIPaks@gmail.com.
