Holiday Giving – Gary Aldrich

Holiday Giving – Gary Aldrich – by Liam Sweeny.

RRX: So you’re doing something at the shop around now, and into the holiday season.

GA: I put a post out, and I collect hats, hand warmers, sweaters, blankets – anything that I can to drop off at the Albany Mission.

RRX: How big are the hauls usually? How long do you do it?

GA: Last year, I was able to get eight boxes full of stuff up to Albany Mission. The year before that, I think it was about five, and then the year before that. It’s just mostly personal donations on my part, which it still is. I try to get as many people as I can to come down and donate, and I picked this time of year because right before Thanksgiving, people tend to be the most giving, and the temperature’s dropping.

RRX: So, how did you start doing this? Is this something you’ve just always done? Was there, like, something that kind of motivated this?

GA: When it comes to the homeless or Wounded Warrior, which is another one that I financially donate to … the homeless is a soft spot for me because I was homeless three times in my life. I came from homelessness. So anytime I see homeless people, I do whatever I can now that I’m in a better position in life. I feel like it’s important to give back.

RRX: So the Albany Mission, that’s the Capital City Rescue Mission?

GA: Yeah, that’s where I’ve been taking it. But this year, my sister’s now the director of Joseph’s House in Troy, and I’m gonna work in conjunction with her to try to get more stuff and try to make it even bigger than years past.

RRX: As far as the things that you look for, what do people bring the most?

GA: What do they bring in the most? Those little cheap – you see them at CVS and Walgreens – those little little rolled up blankets that cost five or ten bucks. Oh yeah, a lot of hand warmers, and I get a lot of socks.

RRX: What would you want people to know about homelessness that they don’t really think about that might change their mind about this or that?

GA: The fact that there is more of it than they’re willing to acknowledge. I think the general public views homeless people as disgusting vermin that need to be taken care of, instead of human beings that need help. And that’s just the animalistic nature of humanity. We view these people as vermin that need to be cleaned up off the streets, or this or that. And it’s like, “No man, maybe they just need somebody to give them a hot cup of coffee and a blanket and tell them it’s gonna be f***ing OK,” you know?

RRX: You said you want to do something bigger. What are you looking at? What are you thinking?

GA: I’m just trying to get as much stuff and donations as humanly possible so that I can get it down to Saint Joseph’s because my sister recently became the director of the one in Troy. And I didn’t even know that. She reached out to me, too, on top of you guys, and was like, “Hey, whatever you’re doing, I’d love to help, and I can collect it and make sure that it gets more evenly distributed amongst the people that need it the most, versus just dumping it at a shelter and blah blah blah.” So I’m gonna try to do my best to ramp up as much on collections as I can, and if it doesn’t turn out good, I’m gonna go down and spend a couple grand of my own and just buy it myself.

RRX: Alright, so let’s say someone has a hundred dollars and they’d wanna buy only one thing to put in your bin. What would you ask them to put in there?

GA: They usually tell people to avoid large items. I would say just use that hundred to buy socks. Socks are the things that the homeless need, and the cold and the winter ones are needed the most.

RRX: OK, that makes sense.

GA: Yeah. It’s a simple thing that people just don’t think about, and your foot health is a major part of being homeless and your survivability. Thank you.

RRX: Let me give you a chance to say whatever you want in conclusion.

GA: I think that maybe as a community, locally, we could all come together and instead of viewing the homeless people as (like I said before) pests that are annoying and traffic at red light stops, we view them as people that just need help. And so just try to have more compassion in our hearts for all people. That’s really cool. I should say one more thing to say a little bit about the shop, Dark Tower. I’m a tattoo artist. I’ve been doing it for 20 plus years. I’m in business on Hoosick Street. I’m extremely happy. I have a fun staff going right now. I got Gina Carbone (piercer), Skylar Cook (artist), Dorian Sav (artist), and my apprentice, Kim Cipriani. We’re just rocking and rolling.

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