Who We Are

Founded in November of 2013 by Jeff & Mary Hocking, the COE is made up of a group of volunteers who have come together in order to better serve the homeless population of metro Detroit and surrounding areas. We have a seven member board of directors consisting of Michael Hocking, Tom Costello, Carleen Lunsford, Dan Hearsch, Lesa Ferencz and Jeff & Mary Hocking. The COE is a ZERO-OVERHEAD registered 501c3 charity where 100% of every donation goes directly towards their mission and no donation money is spent on running the charity itself. The COE owns no property and has no employees collecting a salary.

We are 100% privately funded. As Federal Funding for homeless outreach has dried up over the last few years, we are one of the only homeless outreach programs left in Detroit. In a world of non-profits that operate like corporations, the COE is a true volunteer only owned and operated charity.

What We Do

Since 2013 the COE has been providing 200 SurvivalPaks to the homeless on the streets of metro-Detroit every single month. We pack school-style backpacks with basic supplies needed to live on the streets; warm socks, winter hats, ski gloves, scarves, compact blankets, underwear, along with hand warmers, toiletries, toilet paper, lip balm and lots of non perishable food items. We do not set up a table in a park downtown and wait for the homeless to find us, we’re pro-active and spend hours seeking the homeless out wherever they are in the city.

We focus our efforts outside of the 7 square miles that encompass “downtown Detroit” and instead we focus on the 130+ square miles that make up the neighborhoods of the city and are underserved by the existing homeless charities of Detroit. Once a month on a weekend day our hand-picked delivery team spends 8 – 10 hours driving down alleys, searching in abandoned houses and buildings, looking through dumpsters and under freeway overpasses, in fields, parks and wooded areas in the most desolate areas of metro Detroit.

How You Can Help

Since we exist through private donations and receive no local, state or federal funding, the best way to help us continue providing for the homeless are cash donations. We have become experts at buying exactly what we need in bulk at the most cost effective rates possible.

Since we deliver 200 filled SurvivalPaks every single month, its a lot easier to purchase hundreds of knit hats or 1,000 wool socks at the same time than it is to hope we receive the exact amount of items we need through donated goods each month. For as long as the tax code allows it, 100% of your donations are tax deductible and you can rest assured that 100% of your donation is spent on supplies for the SurvivalPaks and not one penny goes to overhead, salaries or any other expense related to running our charity.