The Eclipse Project: Helping Harrisburg's Homeless

The Eclipse Project: Helping Harrisburg's Homeless Est. 11/2020. It all started with a bag of burgers... now we serve approximately 80 people each week.

In an effort to shorten the post, check the photos for captions. The kitchen smelled very yummy this week, thanks to the...
07/28/2025

In an effort to shorten the post, check the photos for captions.

The kitchen smelled very yummy this week, thanks to the combined efforts of so many people! Volunteers, donors, friends and people I never met.

Volunteers this weekend: Jerry, Eric, Bob, Josh, Beth, Ashley, and Thomas.

Thank you: Panera, Country Gourmet at the Market, Marci from Marci’s At The Market and Sherry's Crab cakes, Maddie's dad, Bob, and Rachel & Safa for donating prepared food, and to Katie and everyone who dropped off ingredients or other donations this past week. Thank you, Marjorie, who brought some leftover ingredients from The Soup Guy and also donated 20 lb of chicken for next week.

Marci had some white cheddar macaroni and cheese that was nearing its best by date. I put her in touch with my dear friend Carolyn who serves several times a week as well and we split the mac and cheese. We turned it into four different options: barbecue pulled pork mac and cheese with Bob's smoked pork butt and a couple of Mission barbecue sauces, ham and broccoli mac and cheese, seafood mac and cheese with shrimp, imitation crab, and Old Bay seasoning, and a jalapeno popper mac and cheese where we added sour cream, cream cheese, diced peppers and a buttered panko topping. Chef's kiss.

I got to dog sit kira yesterday who definitely knew where she wanted to go and took me for a walk after which she stepped on my feet and then laid down on them and licked my leg so I had to give her some macaroni and cheese too.

We still have eight puppies to send home to good homes, ready in about a week and a half. Please let me know if your family would like one of these little snugglers. Mama is half Akita and a half husky. Dad is half Pit and half Labrador. From what I remember, they are all completely different colors and markings.

Seriously in need of toiletries like shampoo, body wash, razors, shaving, cream, mouthwash, toothpaste, etc.

We happily accept donations of wet and dry cat and dog food and other pet items.

Summer clothing welcome. No dress clothes, please.

Several of our friends have asked about belt fans, the portable rechargeable fans you can hook to your waistline to blow cool air up your shirt and relieve some of this heat and humidity. I will add them to our Amazon wish list which can be found on our main page.

Bless you well.

07/28/2025

One of my very good friends who helps our differently sheltered friends for the past few years has a lovely wife who's having a biopsy today. Please join me in sending them prayers and positive energy for the best outcome. ❤️

07/26/2025

Michelle's dog is doing well in her new situation! I hope her family and friends see this video and know that Sasha is loved and enjoying her big yard! She's a little skittish about the inside, but she claimed her bed on the sun porch last night - a big round bed that looks more comfortable than mine!

Now that she is squared away, I have eight puppies to find homes for! Hopefully I can get some more pictures this weekend.

❤️

07/25/2025

It's Friday, volunteers. Beth and Ashley have already checked in. ❤️ Now we have Bob and Eric checked in and a new volunteer, Gavin. Carol is on board. Josh has now checked in as well.

When we lost Mama Michelle in March, she left behind Sasha, her dog. One of her good friends and tent buddies at Tent Ci...
07/24/2025

When we lost Mama Michelle in March, she left behind Sasha, her dog. One of her good friends and tent buddies at Tent City took her in and loved her but couldn't keep her.

Today, Sasha went home to her new family, to some new furry siblings and a big fenced-in yard.

Thank you to everyone who loved her enough to make very sure she was and is taken care of. Please pray for this transition to be smooth and for her to settle in and acclimate to her new surroundings. ❤️

07/24/2025

Occupants of Harrisburg’s largest homeless encampment will need to relocate in the coming weeks, and a local organization is offering an alternative. Dauphin County, along with city officials and local providers, announced at a Thursday press conference that there will be a new site for unhoused p...

This place has been donating their food to us when the market closes on Saturdays for several years now. Please stop by ...
07/24/2025

This place has been donating their food to us when the market closes on Saturdays for several years now. Please stop by and see them at the West shore Farmers Market and tell them we sent you!

I will throw some captions up in the food pics to show what we had for dinner for our friends this past Sunday. This pos...
07/23/2025

I will throw some captions up in the food pics to show what we had for dinner for our friends this past Sunday.

This post is more about my volunteers.

I have an amazing team.

I thought I was going to be really short volunteers on Sunday so Eric came after work at Country Gourmet at the Market And brought their food donations a day early on Saturday and we were there for almost 6 hours prepping a lot of the hot food for the next day.

I thought I would only have two people in the kitchen at Bethany Church of the Nazarene and one or two people serving. Jerry was with me all day. Sue brought Susan. Carol came. Steve showed up without warning, as did Thomas, in the kitchen. Josh was a late check-in. Marjorie came to drop off some produce from The Soup Guy on Saturday evening and offered to help Sunday in the kitchen. Lindy, who picked up the Panera donation Saturday evening also came to help clean up in the kitchen on Sunday.

Super important for everyone to check in with me on a Friday so I know what kind of help I'm going to have on Sunday, and so I don't freak out all day and all night Saturday, but Danielle said "it will work out. It always does." And she was right.

It's hard to believe that when I first started this, it was me and one other person and then me and two other people and it was a lot of going up and down steps from my second floor apartment. I used to pray every week about where the donations were going to come from and every week, God said, "here you go!"

I'm fortunate to have big-hearted people behind me and with me. Hats off to them for coming even when they are hurt or have other things going on. I could not do any of this without them. ❤️

Thank you also to those who donated items this past week. Cases of water, snacks, clothes, desserts, time and effort. Love you all.

Heard from two people who are former residents of Tent City who recently moved and are inside. One went to rehab and is clean and sober and got saved. He is staying with someone currently. One moved in with a friend and said he's never going back to Tent City. I am always hopeful and thankful when someone gets inside and improves their situation. Please pray their situations continue to get better. Being differently-sheltered takes a toll on mental health sometimes and getting housed doesn't mean the end of a struggle. It's bittersweet because I miss people when I don't see them but I pray these two find a way to maintain and improve their circumstances.

07/21/2025

I tried responding to someone who contacted me about the puppies but the message will not go through. Please text me at 570-394-0309. Thank you.

07/18/2025

Happy Friday. We will be missing Bob, Eric, Ashley, and Danielle on Sunday. Volunteers, please check in. Anyone else wishing to volunteer, please contact me via messenger. We will be down two of our key players for kitchen prep in the mornings and two for cleanup after we're done. Kitchen prep is 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.. serving is 2:30 to 4:30ish and cleanup is 5:00 till 6:30. Thank you.

One of our friends agreed to take in a pregnant mama dog. When he approached our table one Sunday, he took me aside and ...
07/16/2025

One of our friends agreed to take in a pregnant mama dog. When he approached our table one Sunday, he took me aside and asked if he would be allowed to have a plate of food for the dog. I said absolutely. He told me she had been rejecting dog food so we went through what we had to make sure there were no ingredients that could harm her. He said she was a little shy and skittish but he brought her out when we were done serving. I stood about 6 ft away. I didn't want to frighten her. I just kept talking in a soothing voice and I then made eye contact with her. She slowly approached me. Then she nudged my hand with her nose. She stood very close to me and pressed up against me and then she sat on my feet! Our friend said, "okay. I see who she likes!"

Within a few days, puppies. Eight of them.

He invited me back on Sunday to see them. Holy smokes! These are some cute puppies. The picture with the single puppy, I was holding her and she kept yawning because we woke her up from a nap, apparently. The puppy breath! ❤️❤️❤️ So sweet.

Mama is being a super good Mama to these babies. She's half Husky and half Akita. Daddy was half Pit and half Labrador. She watches over them and nurses them.

I took some puppy food to them last weekend and was waiting to see if they ate it before I got more. They were definitely eating it and using it as a bed as you can see in one picture!

Mama didn't like the dog food but apparently she liked the puppy food! I went down last night and took a bigger bag of puppy food for all of them and some supplemental milk and bottles if they needed it, and also some wet food. Mama needs to put some fat back on. She's using all her energy to take care of those little ones.

They are currently fenced in to an area that's big enough for them at this age and it's undercover so they're kept dry and safe. Our friend is taking very good care of these babies.

The babies have had their first shots and will be ready to go as soon as they're weaned from Mama. He wants to do the right thing. He wants them to go to good homes with big yards and big-hearted people.

Many of our friends have dogs for warmth in the winter, protection, company. Nine dogs is a lot to take care of though, especially when he's also caring for another friend's dog at the same time.

If anyone is interested in adopting one of these babies, please get in touch with me. I'll arrange a meeting. Or you can meet us when we serve on Sunday at 2:30 and I can take you to see them.

If anyone would like to donate dog or cat food, wet or dry, we distribute it weekly and we are out of pet food right now. I think the puppies would love some toys as well if you have any to pass on.

Please share share share!

The meal for our differently sheltered friends yesterday. Captions are in the photos. In addition, we had iced tea with ...
07/14/2025

The meal for our differently sheltered friends yesterday. Captions are in the photos. In addition, we had iced tea with lemon, bottled water, coffee, and sports drinks. Every week, we freeze about 60 bottles of water so that some folks can choose to use those bottles to cool themselves before the water thaws. It has been so hot and muggy lately. I don't know how they do it. (I was invited back to one of our friends' spots yesterday and I told him the same thing. I don't know how they withstand the blazing heat and the freezing cold. There's a strength within them that I just don't possess! My heart goes out to them.) Then we put another case in with it with ice so it's cold but still drinkable.

Thank you Bob for picking up food donations at Country Gourmet at the Market, to Erin for picking up at Panera, to Bethany Church of the Nazarene for your kitchen, to the folks who had the dinner at the church on Friday and donated their leftover salads, veggies, cupcakes, and sandwiches, and to Steve, Rachel, and Safa who come on a regular basis to donate prepared food. It is such a huge help! Anyone wishing to contribute a dish once a month or even just occasionally, we will even provide you with the disposable pans. They are pricey in the stores but we buy in bulk and are happy to share them with anyone interested in contributing any sort of prepared food.

My lovely volunteers this weekend were Jerry, Sue, Eric, Jarred, Josh, Carol, and Bob. If you wish to volunteer, we're happy to have you. Send me a message. We prepare food from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. We serve at Tent City from 2:30 until 3:30 or 4:00, depending on how many people we are serving (60-100 ppl), and then we serve at a halfway house (12-30 ppl) for about half an hour on our way back to the church. Unloading and cleaning up takes us until about 6:30. Earlier, if we have more help.

Anyone wishing to make a monetary donation has several options. We have venmo and PayPal. You can stop by with cash or check between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. any Sunday. Checks can be made out to The Eclipse Project and mailed to
Michon Zalewski
5955a Linglestown Road
Harrisburg PA 17112

Anyone wishing to make donation of non-perishable food or other items, we accept anything anyone might use if they were living in a tent full-time. Think: camping. No dress clothes.

Our donation drop off address is in our profile picture and the front door to the vestibule is open 24/7.

We are starting to run low on instant rice, dry pasta (everything but spaghetti), corn, canned fruit, jiffy corn muffin mix, boxed cake mixes, peanut butter, tents, tarps, and toiletries - body wash, shampoo, toothpaste, shaving cream, deodorant, razors, brushes, hair accessories to keep long hair up in this heat, lotion, sunblock, sunburn relief gel, insect, etc. We use a LOT of bottled water and cans of powdered drink mixes like ice tea, lemonade, fruit punch, Gatorade.

Donations of perishable items like meat, fresh fruit and vegetables, frozen potatoes, ravioli, pierogi, frozen fruits and vegetables, cheeses, milk, eggs, sour cream, please come by 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Sundays or if that time isn't feasible for you, send me a message. I live close to the church and can accommodate other times if necessary.

If none of these things appeal to you, please share our posts to get the word out about what we do and pray for our differently sheltered friends.
❤️

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Harrisburg, PA

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