November 22, 2024
Good Black News saw this inspiring story on NBC’s Today about Shirley Raines, beautician and founder of Beauty2theStreetz.
Raines and her team of volunteers are on a mission to brings meals, services and a touch of self-care to those in need every week. To check out video, click below:
To donate time, goods, or money to Beauty2theStreetz, click here.
article by Angela Bronner Helm via theroot.com
Chris Bentley and Carlos Miller, two African-American men who have been friends since middle school, have started an innovative way to help the homeless of Palm Beach County, Fla. The two started a nonprofit—Live FRESH (Feeling Revitalized Encourages Sustainable Happiness)—and have launched a mobile shower facility, an air conditioned trailer equipped with six private shower/changing area rooms, to assist the area’s transient population.
The Palm Beach Post reports that the two chose showers specifically: “For us, that’s where dignity and self-respect starts … with the ability to stay clean and be presentable,” says Bentley. “Cleanliness is a fundamental need. We actually see it as basic human right and because the homeless population can be hard to reach, we knew we would have to come to them and make ourselves available in areas they could easily reach.”
Miller writes on the website: “To see a human being, living in the United States of all countries, walk inside a store with apprehension over being shunned or offensive to the atmosphere due to their odor or disheveled state grabbed at the core of my heart.”About 250 people have participated since the program began March 31, reports the Post.
Each participant gets a packet with personal hygiene essentials including deodorant, towels, soap, shampoo, conditioner, toothbrush, toothpaste and dental floss. The organization was able to launch its fund with a $100,000 grant from Impact the Palm Beaches and smaller donations from other organizations.
To read full article and see video, go to: Longtime Friends Start Mobile Shower Facility for the Homeless in Fla.
article by Matt Ackland and staff via fox5dc.com
The gift was unexpected, but so welcomed. It happened on Thursday at N Street Village’s Empowerment Luncheon. The organization helps women in need through housing and employment as well as helping those battling drug addiction or are encountering health issues.
They only wanted to hear Oprah Winfrey’s inspirational words, but they got so much more.
“I thank you N Street for seeing, hearing and knowing that every life matters, every woman matters,” Winfrey said.
Linda Rush introduced Winfrey at the luncheon. For years, Rush was addicted to crack and involved in prostitution. “My mom dropped me off. She walked me in here,” said Rush.
At one time before finding N Street Village, Rush wanted to reach out to Winfrey. “Twenty years ago, I wanted to write her a letter and ask her to help me into a program,” Rush told FOX 5. “The people I was getting high with, they were like, ‘Oh, she don’t have time for you.’”
Two decades later, Rush told Winfrey that story and how N Street Village helped turn her life around.
“Before I introduced her, I said that now she can see for herself how things turned out,” Rush said. “She said, ‘I see.’ And that felt – I can’t even describe that feeling.”
“N Street Village has been a vital part of Washington D.C. for over 40 years now,” said Schroeder Stribling, executive director for N Street Village.
It has four locations across the city helping homeless women get their lives back on track. Stribling said Winfrey’s gift brought her to tears. “I went up and I kind of couldn’t help myself, but hang on her for a while and cry,” Stribling said.
To read more, go to: http://www.fox5dc.com/news/156895468-story