BOISE, ID – CATCH, a local housing nonprofit, is launching its BEAT the COLD campaign to provide critical winter supplies to people experiencing homelessness in Southwest Idaho. With temperatures dropping and limited shelter space available, the need for warm clothing and survival items has never been more urgent.
“Weather changes in our community are dramatic and can be extremely dangerous for our unhoused population,” said CATCH Outreach Team Lead Connor O’Hora. “The items we receive this time of year are not sitting on a shelf. They are immediately and consistently utilized by those who need them most.”
More than 350 Southwest Idaho families and 1,450 adult-only households are currently experiencing homelessness and on CATCH’s housing waitlists. This year alone, CATCH has received more than 19,000 calls on their Housing Crisis Hotline and completed more than 1,100 housing assessments—private meetings to understand individual situations and connect people with resources. Despite a shortage of affordable housing, stagnant wages, and rent increases, CATCH has successfully housed 84 local families, including 162 children, for a total of 351 people stably housed in 2025.
“Winter hits our folks hard,” said Stephanie Day, CATCH Executive Director. “But year after year, this community shows up to help. We know they’ll come through again—they always do.”
Urgently Needed Winter Items and Support
Following recent policy changes, the unsheltered population has become more scattered across the community, making it harder for vulnerable individuals to access resources and maintain crucial social connections. The team has been frequently visiting an encampment in Kuna that emerged after residents were displaced from city limits. Cut off from traditional resources, these individuals depend on CATCH’s outreach team as their only source of food, water, and warming supplies for weeks at a time.
“This isolation makes our work both more challenging and more critical,” explains the outreach team. “We’re covering more ground to reach people who are now dangerously far from any other support systems.”
The outreach team faces significant challenges during winter months, including limited shelter space and keeping enough warm clothing on hand to meet immediate needs.
Critical winter needs include hand warmers (HotHands brand preferred), winter gloves, warm socks, winter hats and beanies, sleeping bags, water, and sports drinks. Year-round essentials like bulk single-serve non-perishables are also desperately needed.
Community members can help by purchasing items directly from CATCH’s updated Amazon Wishlist. For those preferring to donate items directly, CATCH accepts donations at their office located at 503 S. Americana Blvd., Boise, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Beyond item donations, there are many ways to support CATCH’s mission to make local homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.
“Those experiencing homelessness are living in active trauma,” O’Hora explained. “When basic needs aren’t being met, the ability to focus on any long-term goals is diminished greatly. These supplies serve as crucial engagement tools that help us build trust through genuine and consistent engagement. Trust in our community is built slowly, and these donations help us meet people where they are and focus on what’s most important to them.”