What we do.

Operation Save Our City works to improve the lives of Philadelphians who are dealing with complex trauma resulting from homicide grief, substance use disorder, loss of housing, secondary trauma from exposure to violence, or any combination of the above.

What we've done so far.

For ten years, all of our services were provided through street outreach and workshops with local partners and volunteers. We delivered large volumes of donated supplies using a wagon loaded at our founder’s home and rolled to our Sunshines living areas on sidewalks all over Ken. Roz stored donated clothing, blankets, coats, snacks, wound care, and Narcan supplies in her home. In March of 2024 -- with support from the Philadelphia Foundation, Scattergood Foundation and several other charitable donors -- we fulfilled our dream of opening a drop-in center on Kensington Avenue. Our Sunshine House is now welcoming space that provides a wider variety of therapeutic services to guests. In 2025 service visits included:  720 for Treatment Referrals; 848 for Housing Referrals; 368 to get ID cards; 180 for Legal Services; 200 Stranded Travelers; 780 Wound Care Kits. 7248 Clothes distributed; 2480 Shoes distributed. 

The person driving our success is our founder, Roz Pichardo, a Kensington native who has personally reversed more than 2100 overdoses among those she describes as "people everyone else rejected, stigmatized, and left behind." Roz is also an activist, educator, and trauma survivor whose life has been touched by gun violence. She survived an attempted homicide and shortly afterward her boyfriend Talvird was murdered. She later lost her twin sister Kathy to suicide and her brother Alex to murder. In response to these tragedies, she has made it her mission to create change that will make life safer and happier for the people of Kensington. She's also mastered life saving techniques that she shares with teens and business owners through Stop the Bleed workshops.

Roz is a nationally recognized leader in preventing opioid deaths. In 2023, she was summoned to teach overdose prevention skills to the former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Drug Czar in Washington DC. Roz also teaches harm reduction and crisis response to nursing and medical students from Jefferson, Community College of Philadelphia, Temple University, and Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Her story is described in documentaries and articles like Hello Sunshine [film] and A Lifesaving Activist Sees Sunlight in Dark Corners [WHYY]. In 2024, she was selected by Jacqueline Romero, Former U.S. Attorney Eastern PA District, as a Love and Light Tour Award winner for fostering positive community change in Kensington.

How we use donations.

Small donations help us to keep distributing essential items like food, clothing, wound care kits and toiletries to unhoused people struggling with complex problems including trauma and substance use disorder. Help us help them get access to effective treatment.

Now we’re also responding to a new kind of demand: Our summer youth violence prevention program has unleashed local teen interest in crisis medicine. During 2026 we delivered Stop the Bleed trainings at a local high school which will work with us during the coming year to create a career education component for the model we’ve been using. This extended year version of the program is called Teen Health Action in Kensington (THANK). Your contributions will help us build out the curriculum and give teens a chance to meet with health professional who work as EMTs, paramedics, ER Nurses, and hospital techs. This concept evolved out of our hands-on efforts to help young people in Kensington learn how to prevent violence and death through effective crisis response. Your gift will help us offer local teens a chance to learn skills that lead to high demand jobs!

Your Call to Action

Join our inspired team by making a contribution that helps us build a safer, healthier community in our corner of Philly!

FAQ or Contact

www.operationsaveourcity.org