Once or twice a week, Mark Sniff delivers supplies to unsheltered people in Hot Springs. The 36-year-old Sniff is the case manager of the Ouachita Youth Center, which is a division of Ouachita Children, Youth & Family Services, a Hot Springs-based nonprofit. To bring things like socks, blankets and first-aid kits to the city's homeless camps, he often relies on his mountain bike.
"Especially if it's a really nice day and I'm doing street outreach, I'll bring the bicycle," says Sniff, who lives in Little Rock. "Sometimes the camps are [a] little hard to get to, especially if you are bringing a lot of resources. With the bike I can just load up and ride out there. The bike is a really convenient method to reaching some of those places, and I can cover more ground."
Sniff's weapon of choice to make these deliveries is a Breezer Thunder mountain bike.
"It can handle everything from road to gravel to single track," Sniff says. "It's pretty versatile and checks a lot of boxes. It's the perfect tool for doing homeless outreach."
Supplies are loaded into bags attached to a rack on the back of the bike, and sometimes Stiff wears a backpack if he needs more cargo space.
Sniff has been with the center since September.
"I'm a middleman between the people in need of help and the resources that can help them," he says. "We also do homeless prevention, so if someone is facing homelessness, maybe they are a few resources away from not being homeless, we can hopefully provide services to fill in those gaps."
Along with the street outreach program, the youth center also operates the Drop-In, a space for people under 24 who are homeless or are in unstable housing.
"People can come in, take a shower and do laundry and take care of some of those basic needs," Sniff says.
For those interested in helping out, the youth center could always use donations.
"Backpacks are a big commodity," says Sniff. "Hygiene kits are always high on the list; sleeping bags, blankets. We'll also take food items."
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As the weather gets more cooperative, Sniff says he will continue using his Breezer Thunder to bring essential items to Hot Springs' unsheltered community.
"I absolutely plan on utilizing the bike as a tool not only to do my job more efficiently, but also have a little fun while I'm at it."
email: sclancy@adgnewsroom