Hearts went up all over San Francisco on Valentines Day, and not because overpriced flowers were getting delivered to the 30th floors of financial district hi-rises.  It was because an SF ‘craftivist’ (craft + political activist) made and hung nearly 700 little, pink, knit hearts all over our city with a message to bring attention to something much more important that hallmark cards and candy bullshit.

Namely, the  2.5 million children who are homeless in America.  Over 3,000 of them in San Francisco alone.

The project’s creator, Penny Fellbrich of Street Hearts puts it like this:  “2.5 million children are homeless across the country, and that’s a largely an under-reported number, there are thousands and thousands of children living on their auntie’s couches, in their grandma’s garage, in SROs – and these children are not typically counted as homeless.”

“For many years, I worked with homeless children and their families in the San Francisco Bay Area – as a family therapist, preschool teacher, art therapist, and case manager.

“I was amazed at the invisibility of these families to the general public.”

“Amazed at how many people had no idea that children are homeless in this supposedly rich country. 1 in 30 children — that’s one child in every average public school classroom.”

“Amazed at people’s ideas of what the average homeless person looks like. Reality check: children and families are 35% of the homeless population in America. The average age of a homeless person in the U.S. is 9 years old. More than 20,000 homeless children live in the San Francisco Bay Area.”

“Children living in cars. Moving from couch to couch. Sleeping in garages, basements, shopping malls, storage spaces — even hospital emergency rooms.

And so I created this craftivism project to raise awareness, make visible this invisible issue and to inspire people to take action.”

craft + political activism = craftivism

StreetHearts wants to help end child homelessness — by inspiring you to act

For more information or to show your support, volunteer, and take action, become a crafitivist, go to www.streethearts.us.  And for more street heart action follow Penny’s project on instagram @streethearts.us  #StreetHearts