1/19/2023 0 Comments Bite toothpaste bits linkedinPeople are complaining right now, during COVID-19, 'Oh I had to cancel my birthday party. "I had to cancel the birthday party, cancel the birthday cake, cancel all these things. Philly DJ Rallies Friends, Strangers to Feed Nurses and Support Businesses.Restauranteur Delivers Oranges to Hospital Workers Amid Coronavirus Crisis.Teenagers Shop for the Vulnerable During Coronavirus Emergency.Even though it's been 30-something years, when you lose a child, it always feels like it was yesterday. Raines said she started helping the homeless after losing her firstborn son in an accident, just days before his third birthday, in the early 1990s.Įven though she's since had five more children, she said: "Nothing takes the place of a child, not even another child. Last week, the first confirmed case of coronavirus on Skid Row was reported after an employee of the Union Rescue Mission tested positive, The Los Angeles Times reported. "It's kind of hard to educate them on something they should be doing when they don't have the items necessary to do it," she added. So what we try to preach and educate is washing your hands, don't touch your face."īut Raines says it's also hard to tell the homeless to wash their hands when the city has only recently started installing hand washing facilities in the area-and not all of them have running water. For me to tell them to find six to 10 feet from everybody is impossible. Our job is to protect them from getting it from outsiders, that's us. "There is no way for them to stay six to 10 feet away from each other. Shirley Raines, who runs non-profit Beauty 2 The Streetz, is helping the homeless community in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles, by handing out hand sanitizer and Vitamin C. They sleep on top of each other," she added. "What a lot of people don't understand is the homeless are living on top of each other. Raines said she and her team maintain their distance from the homeless community by handing out items through their car windows or by setting up tables that people can grab the packs from.īut trying to get the community to practise social distancing among themselves is "impossible," she said. We can't do the things we used to do but we still provide for them." Our help has to look different, we can't do their hair, we can't give them makeup. She added: "We pass out whatever we can get and educate and just let them know that we're not leaving them during this time. "We're letting them know that as long as we're able to, as long as the city doesn't shut down, we will be out there every Saturday to give them more supplies." It doesn't leave them hungry and cold and feeling alone. "Trying to find a way to help that protects them and us at the same time. "That's pretty much what we're doing," Raines told Newsweek. Raines, who lives in Long Beach, California, and her team also educate the community about how to prevent spreading the virus and provide water, clothes and other supplies like masks and gloves.Īlthough Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city would be providing temporary beds to get the homeless community off the streets, Raines said many are still sleeping outdoors, so she and her team provide blankets and tents when they can as well. Thx u for the hand sanitizer donation! Thx u to our social media family for the donations that made this possible.Ī post shared by Shirley Raines on at 2:00pm PDT Instead, she buys 600 burgers from McDonald's every Saturday morning. She's also continuing to help feed hundreds of homeless people every week-only she's had to stop cooking the food in bulk herself since she can't buy as much in grocery stores. Instead, to help them avoid a coronavirus outbreak that would be devastating, she has started spending Saturdays handing out supplies including 200 bottles of hand sanitizer, donated by Bite Toothpaste Bits, as well as oranges and lemons to provide a Vitamin C boost. She can't continue doing hair and makeup for the homeless community like she has done for the past three years. Raines, 52, has adapted the way she runs her non-profit, Beauty 2 The Streetz. With the city on a lockdown during the pandemic, many have been forced to adapt the way they live and instructed to practise social distancing to avoid spreading the virus. That's what Shirley Raines says again and again to the homeless men and women living in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles as she hands out coronavirus "kits" through her car window. "Take the hand sanitizer, rub it around, don't touch your face, OK?" Newsweek's " Heroes of the Pandemic" series features everyday heroes showing service, sacrifice or kindness in the time of COVID-19.
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