C.A.Re Project (Community Aid and Resources Project) is a mobile humanitarian student-run organization whose purpose is to provide free health and social services for the underserved in the Santa Cruz County. We hope to create an environment that is educational as well as inspirational for both students and those less fortunate. We hope to encourage teamwork and community involvement by creating opportunities for those who wish to serve people in need in their community. We hope to strengthen already existing services as well as fill in gaps that are present due to the lack of resources and volunteers. Some of the services our clinics will provide are consultations with on-site doctors, references and referrals to local free services, transportation, dinner, foot washing, and take away food, clothes, and hygiene products.
The establishment of C.A.Re Project was inspired by Suitcase Clinic in Berkeley. We have been able to visit and participate in all three of their clinics- general, youth, and women’s. Like in Berkeley and other urban centers, Santa Cruz County has an impoverished community in need of, among other things, free health and social services. According to the 2009 Santa Cruz County Homeless Census, 2% of people living in Santa Cruz County are homeless and of those, 28% have needed health care and were unable to receive it. This is something we can address to an extent with our on-site doctors and medical assistants, by providing free hygiene products, and by tending to basic physical up keep such as foot care.
C.A.Re Project will be continually assembling clinics at which a variety of services in addition to basic medical care will be provided. We will gather information from clients about what services they would like to see and we will try our best to contact service providers to enlist their help. Ultimately, C.A.Re Project approaches the issues of universal health care from a grassroots level by uniting people of all backgrounds and training with the interest of helping those without; the resources are out there and we are determined to find them.
