FLOURISH MORE and several other organizations gathered at the Clinton-Peabody Housing Complex on Friday, October 30 to distribute care packages to residents. The event attracted more than 100 residents and members distributed a total of 110 care packages and more than 50 raffle items.
FLOURISH MORE is a group within FLOURISH that focuses on immediate solutions and long-term strategies to address urban health and housing issues that can impact Black pregnant moms and babies. A focal point of FLOURISH MORE’s work is supporting the community at Clinton-Peabody, a housing complex in St. Louis City that has been dealing with many unsafe living conditions.
Members distributed care packages filled with masks, hand sanitizer, liquid soap, liquid detergent, snacks and FLOURISH-printed postcards and pens. The Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority at Saint Louis University also collected and donated diapers, wipes, cloth masks and candy. The Nine Network donated 15 kid tablets with built in WIFI and educational games.
“COVID-19 has intensified the challenges Clinton-Peabody residents face, making it harder for families to make ends meet,” said Rose Anderson-Rice, deputy director at Generate Health. “While FLOURISH MORE’s focus has been to address long-term needs of this community, such as access to health services and tenant rights, we recognized that we also needed to help fill immediate gaps, such as keeping families supplied with face masks, hand sanitizer, diapers and wipes.”
The St. Louis Housing Authority helped host the event and the following organizations handed out needed supplies and resources to help residents advocate for their health and better housing conditions:
- Affinia Healthcare offered COVID-19 testing, provided flu shots and distributed diapers. In addition, they helped residents sign up for Gateway to Better Health, which serves as a temporary health care program for uninsured adults until they can enroll in health insurance.
- Punch from The Spot distributed over 300 masks with carbon filters.
- Ready Readers and Village of Moms STL gave out books and backpacks to adults and children.
- Louis Area Diaper Bank donated thousands of diapers to families.
- Legal Services of Missouri educated residents on renters’ rights and helped residents enroll in Medicaid.
- The Metropolitan Equal Housing and Opportunity Council created a flyer for residents to refer to that outlined their expanded rights related to the mice infestation lawsuit they experienced.
FLOURISH used part of a grant from the Washington University Institute of Clinical Translational Sciences (ICTS) to fund the event. The remainder of the Partnership Development & Sustainability Support (PDSS) grant will be used to educate Clinton-Peabody residents on their enhanced tenant rights.
If you or your organization wants to get more involved in helping Clinton Peabody, contact Rose Anderson-Rice at randersonrice@generatehealthstl.org.
