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| Today is Giving Tuesday! It’s the day when millions of people, businesses and philanthropic organizations come together to support the charitable causes that are closest to their hearts. You can join this tradition of generosity by donating to Project Ropa! Today, and through the rest of 2022, we are calling on our supporters to help us reach our end-of-year goal of raising $10K! Your donation will help us restore dignity to the lives of people experiencing homelessness by providing clothing essentials and personal hygiene products. These basic necessities can open doors to housing and employment opportunities as well as reduce the spread of transmittable diseases. A financial donation also allows us to keep textile waste from ending up in landfills and to provide living-wage employment opportunities to people transitioning out of homelessness as well as the formerly incarcerated. MAKE A DONATION Rampant inflation and the continuing effects of the pandemic have contributed significantly to the growing number of individuals and families who are newly homeless, with many more on the brink of losing their housing. According to the Brookings Institution, the cost of basic necessities increased more than 20 percent between 2018 and 2021 in Los Angeles, a painful number that is only getting much worse this year. A 2021 report by the Economic Roundtable predicts that chronic homelessness will increase by 86 percent in Los Angeles County by 2023, compared with the situation before the pandemic began. Project Ropa has seen the impact of COVID-19 and of soaring inflation first hand: The number of people we serve on a monthly basis has increased to an average of 950, more than a 50% increase since last year. And more of those we serve are families with young children who are on the brink of homelessness. Prior to the pandemic, we rarely served families and the majority of our clients were single adults. Now nearly 30 percent are low-income and unhoused families. Our Community Clothing and Hygiene Bank now works with more than 25 mutual aid and small nonprofit organizations across the Greater Los Angeles area, an increase of more than one-third since 2021. We provide bulk supplies of clean clothes, shoes and personal hygiene products to these organizations for distribution to their communities. The soaring cost of gasoline has affected our ability to pick up donations and increase our service sites. It now costs more than $600 a month to keep all our vehicles on the road. MAKE A DONATION  Project Ropa’s Mobile Clothing Closet is the only one of its kind in Los Angeles County, providing street-side service that can be a pathway to a better life. Clean clothes and shoes may seem like a small thing to those who have access to them every day. But to someone on the streets or living paycheck to paycheck, a new outfit that is the right fit and style and is appropriate for their individual needs can restore dignity, rekindle optimism and fuel a sense of opportunity. It can also reduce the risk of contracting a host of highly communicable diseases (including staph and COVID-19) as well as bacterial and fungal infections. MAKE A DONATION WAYS TO GIVE As we mentioned above, we have set an end-of-year goal of raising $10,000. There are many ways to contribute: 1.) Start a fundraiser on Facebook. CREATE A FACEBOOK FUNDRAISER 2.) Start a fundraiser on Donorbox. CREATE A DONORBOX FUNDRAISER 3.) Donate $1, $5, $25, $100 – any amount is incredibly helpful and will go directly toward the costs of operating our mobile services. DONATE NOW 4.) Make a donation on Benevity and have your company match it. DONATE HERE 5.) Help stock our Mobile Clothing Closet by donating men’s and women’s clothing, shoes and toiletries. Shop our Amazon wishlist here or email us to schedule a pickup or drop off. 6.) Organize a men’s pants and shoe drive or a hygiene drive. For more information, email us here. 7.) Share our social media posts! By doing so, you will amplify our message and let others know what we need. Links to all of our social accounts are in the footer of this email. 8.) Become a volunteer and help out at our service sites or warehouse. Email us here. 9.) Support us on Amazon by making Project Ropa your selected charity. Every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will generate a donation for us! HERE’S HOW: 1. Sign into smile.amazon.com on your computer or mobile browser. 2. On your first visit to AmazonSmile, you will be prompted to select an organization – search and select Project Ropa. http://smile.amazon.com/ch/81-4278151. 3. Bookmark smile.amazon.com so that any time you shop on Amazon you go through AmazonSmile. 4. Start shopping! Your support will help ensure that we continue to empower lives and reduce the spread of transmittable diseases. MAKE A DONATION |
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