The kindergarten mantra “be nice to people” has inspired a new, upcoming nonprofit organization.

Galena Ojiem, founder of Hikers for the Homeless, has taken this value to heart and has applied it to every action she takes. However, Ojiem believes that the idea has become all but lost on the current generation.

This notion inspired her, and whenever she and her children would routinely pass homeless people in downtown Syracuse, she decided to turn lemons into lemonade by making the encounters into a teaching experience.

“It is important to show the future generation right from wrong,” Ojiem said. “I don’t just leave it up to teachers — we have to become more and more involved.”

Hikers for the Homeless, an organization that is currently applying for non-profit status, provides basic survival supplies to homeless people in the form of kits. Ojiem associated the program with hiking because she is an avid fan of the outdoors, and used her own time hiking and camping to imagine what it might be like to be homeless.

On the organization’s Indiegogo page, Ojiem explains: “When we go hiking and forget an essential item…it has a great effect on the trip and we have to do without. This is how the homeless live every day but this could easily be prevented by a little help from those of us who have more than enough to share.”

According to the current Syracuse census, there are more than 800 homeless people living in Syracuse emergency shelters and transitional housing, and the number of people who said they live on the streets has increased since last year.

Dave Kashmer, a Syracuse resident helping Ojiem reach out to other organizations, said the number is often inaccurate, as it doesn’t account for the different types of homeless people. Kashmer faced homelessness and couch surfed in his family and friend’s living rooms after he left the military as a navy veteran. He was able to offer a firsthand account to Ojiem, as well as put her in contact with people she could help.

“There are only two shelters in Syracuse. If I had the choice between the two, I’d choose the street,” Kashmer said.

Ojiem realized many homeless people share sentiments similar to Kashmer’s. As temperatures continue to drop to arctic levels, Hikers for the Homeless makes survival kits to make their time in the cold a bit more bearable.

The average survival kit includes everything from basic toiletries and a first aid kit to a poncho, a windup flashlight and a sewing kit. Ojiem has partnered with several camping and hiking outlets to raise awareness for the cause, and said she is in the works of developing other partnerships to allow the kits to include items such as blankets, pillows, articles of clothing and leftover toiletries from hotels.

“I have to think outside the box because I’ve never been through this myself — it’s a learning experience,” Ojiem said about the boxes’ contents.

Hikers for the Homeless harnessed the power of the Internet and social media to raise awareness for the cause.

Ojiem started an Indiegogo campaign to raise $1,318 to help the organization apply for nonprofit status and to create 50 survival kits. The campaign succeeded, and raised $1,539 within a 30-day timespan. Ojiem credits the success in part to Reddit, where her post made it to the front page and increased awareness for her cause. Additionally, since the launch of its Facebook page in April 2013, its follower count has increased from 13 to more than 850 followers.

The increased success has allowed Ojiem to make more people aware of the growing problem of homelessness in Syracuse. She hopes Syracuse University students will take part in the program in the future.

Zach Schotz, a senior sport management major and the community service chair for the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity at SU, saw Ojiem’s post on Reddit and decided to get involved.

“I always want to help the homeless but always second guess myself when I give money. By providing money for this survival kit I now know where my money is going, and I know I am helping them,” Schotz said in an email.

Schotz and his AePi brothers will help assemble the individual kits as well as hand them out to homeless individuals around the city of Syracuse.

Hikers for the Homeless has other plans for future expansion as well, including sleep-outs and hikes to spread awareness of the cause and program.

Ojiem also wants to create a website where customers can directly order supplies for the homeless. The proposed site will have stories from homeless people, so donors can understand the logistics of where their money is going and why it is needed.

As a current, indirect way of donating, customers of CampingSurvival.com can use a special coupon code at checkout to donate five percent of the total to Hikers for the Homeless.

In regard to the overall mission of Hikers for the Homeless, Kashmer hopes people realize how homelessness can affect anyone at any time, and urges people to get involved.

Said Kashmer: “Homelessness is not going away, it’s getting worse and worse. People need to start caring about the situation.”

Published on February 12, 2014 at 12:08 am

Contact Madysan: mgfoltz@syr.edu | @madysangabriele