ST PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota State Troopers across the state will be carrying more than 600 kits to give to homeless people who need clothes, food, and toiletries.
The St. Cloud Times reports the Department of Public Safety collected donations and assembled them into “Care and Go” kits.
"A lot of times people will think it's just a metro issue," said Booker Hodges, assistant commissioner of law enforcement in the Department of Public Safety. "In greater Minnesota, our troopers do encounter quite a few people who are homeless."
Hodges said he wanted to start the program in the Department of Public Safety after seeing a similar initiative used in Ramsey County for recently released inmates.
Hodges said he hopes to have kits in place by Feb. 1. He said the “goal is that every state trooper will have one in his or her squad car.”
The kits include socks, t-shirts, toothpaste, conditioners, hand wipes, and feminine products. They also include protein bars and water.
"I thought we'd be lucky to get 100" kits, Hodges said. “People have been very generous throughout this.”
Hodges said his department will host a drive for donations for the kits once a year.
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