Outline for the year
-January focus: Fundraising and donations.
-End of January questions: How many bags will we make? What will be in each bag?
-February focus: Promoting and hosting toiletry drives at school.
-End of February focus: Collecting inventory, determining how many supplies are left to purchase, and hosting the packaging event.
-March focus: Community outreach and distributing care packages.
-April focus: Quarantine tips regarding mental health and stress.
-End of January questions: How many bags will we make? What will be in each bag?
-February focus: Promoting and hosting toiletry drives at school.
-End of February focus: Collecting inventory, determining how many supplies are left to purchase, and hosting the packaging event.
-March focus: Community outreach and distributing care packages.
-April focus: Quarantine tips regarding mental health and stress.
Team Events
We wanted to make this project large scale and effective. For this reason we had these three steps to make the packages.
Fundraising: We hosted a successful bake sale on Larchmont Boulevard. This was a great way for us to get the team together. Nine of our members attended and each brought a baked good. We received a lot of supportive and positive feedback from our customers. For our leftovers we delivered them to the homeless around Los Angeles.
Toiletry Drive: We organized a toiletry drive at our school.
Here we advertised through social media, newsletters, school posters and announcements. As a team we also made school wide announcements (assemblies, PA system) and carpool advertisement campaigns. This drive engaged middle school and high school students. At the end of this event we had students volunteer to help us take inventory and organize donations. With the help of faculty, families, and students we were able to receive about 200 (by item) donations. Donations from partners: Some of our team members reached out to dental offices and organizations for supplies. Dr. Bruce Lily’s dental office in Burbank supplied us with 80 toothpastes. We had made a connection with the nonprofit World Harvest a couple months ago when the service team of Larchmont donated their can drives to them. World Harvest supplied us with 170 mini tote bags, 200 bottles of baby oil, 80 toothpastes, and 180 bars worth of soap.
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With the fundraised money, our team members went to the 99 Cents Only stores and Vons to get the necessary supplies for 170 care packages. At Vons we were able to speak to the manager and receive extra discounts for our items.
World Harvest Los Angeles Food Bank is a non-profit organization that provides food, and daily essentials to people in need. This foundation was established in 2007 by Glen Curado. This organization works with more than 200 agencies to eliminate hunger for around 70,000 Californians each day. Not only do they distribute necessary essentials, but they also reduce food waste with their partner, Republic Services. Together, they cleared up 74 tons of food that would have ended up in landfills.
Civic Engagement Event
Our Girl’s Build LA team hosted an assembling event to bring students and faculty together to support our cause. We invited students from 9th to 12th grade to join us. Our team members came up with the idea of setting up an assembly line to make things more efficient. Our event lasted about three (including set up and clean up) hours and we were able to successfully make 170 care packages! About 35 students and faculty came to help us out. The faculty and school administration also communicated their gratitude and excitement towards this event. This is one way that we were able to not only bring the school together but also unite people for a relevant cause regarding our community. For many students, they expressed to us how it was eye opening how little access many people have to hygiene essentials. Some students were even eager to help distribute them with us.
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Contents of each bag: Toothpaste, toothbrushes, a wash cloth, a pair of socks, sunscreen, lotion, travel sized shampoo, baby oil (to moisturize feet), chapstick, Q-tips, bandaids, floss, wet wipes, antacids and feminine hygiene products. |
Outreach
The last part of our project was distributing these care packages. Coincidentally, the week that businesses and schools in LA began to shut down due to COVID-19 was the same week that we distributed our packages to the historical MacArthur park located a few blocks down from our school. With the help of members of our team and other student volunteers, we distributed more than half of the care packages to those in need.
However with the closure of schools, we were left disheartened knowing that people would need these packages more than ever. Luckily, one of our members, Emma Mele, was able to connect with the shelter called Covenant House. Our co-site coordinator, Stacey Major was able to drop off the remaining packages to this shelter. The Covenant house specializes in supporting homeless youth and victims of human trafficking.
However with the closure of schools, we were left disheartened knowing that people would need these packages more than ever. Luckily, one of our members, Emma Mele, was able to connect with the shelter called Covenant House. Our co-site coordinator, Stacey Major was able to drop off the remaining packages to this shelter. The Covenant house specializes in supporting homeless youth and victims of human trafficking.
COVID-19 Outreach
Due to the Covid-19 we were unable to carry out the rest of our planned projects. However we recognize the importance of mental health and decided to create a video with some tips for how to deal with stress and anxiety during quarantine!