ONE-STOP SHOP FOR HOMELESS

On a recent Saturday in the back of a county parking lot in San Jose, volunteers in blue T-shirts and jackets clicked the legs of folding tables and laid them with supplies.

First, groceries: Fruit cups, canned vegetables, Chef Boyardee lasagna, Pop-Tarts and bottles of water and milk. Next, hygiene products: Paper towels, wipes, deodorant and masks. A tarp held clothing. The smell of lunch — hot Costco pizza — filled the air.

Every other Saturday morning, the small, all-volunteer organization Sleeping Bags for the Homeless of Silicon Valley meets in this lot to distribute provisions to homeless residents who live nearby.

In the afternoons, they move to another spot in South San Jose. On Sundays, they set up in Milpitas.

Clients who can’t make it to these distribution sites can arrange to have supplies delivered directly to them.

As its name suggests, the group also gives away sleeping bags, plus bikes, tents, fire extinguishers and portable phone chargers in addition to food and personal care products.

The nonprofit primarily serves the residents of four encampments in San Jose and a dozen or so smaller encampments in Milpitas — meeting their needs “from head to toes,” as founder and CEO Jinky Peralta puts it.

Peralta has “always had a heart” for serving others. She was inspired by her grandparents’ charitable work in the Philippines, where she was born and raised before moving to Sunnyvale as a teen. She’s lived in Milpitas since 1992, and founded Sleeping Bags for the Homeless of Silicon Valley in 2017.

“If it weren’t for Jinky I probably wouldn’t have survived this long,” said Nicci Bailey, one of the nonprofit’s clients.

SHAE HAMMOND — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Nicci Bailey admires a dress she received from Sleeping Bags for the Homeless of Silicon Valley during a distribution in San Jose. The nonprofit regularly offers supplies and food to help residents of area homeless encampments.