Shirley Raines brings a Lifestyle of Beauty to the Streets
While most people avoid areas like SkidRow, Shirley Raines, a mother of 6, is in the heart of it, radiating positivity and using the power of beauty to bring back the feeling of self-worth to those that have hit rock bottom.
Raines created a non-profit called Beauty2TheStreetz, and with the help of volunteers, food, showers, hair, and makeup services are offered free of charge. She got the idea while involved in an outreach program that feeds and clothes the homeless. The women would always compliment her on her hair and makeup. Raines says she has always been told that the homeless need food, clothing, water, and resources, but no one ever said they need makeup and hair color. She thought, 'This is something that I can do!'" So she "cashed in her Sephora points, hit a few discount stores, and started handing out travel-sized products to the women who asked her about beauty."
Yahoo Lifestyle reports: " Over the past six years, the number of people experiencing homelessness in L.A. has increased by 75% to over 50,000 people, but it’s not an isolated epidemic. It’s estimated that 553,000 people across the country were experiencing homelessness on any given night in 2018 — 39% of them were women and girls — which is an overall 4,300 person increase from 2017, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). But that’s just what the government can physically see; the numbers are widely believed to be underreported because those experiencing homelessness are difficult to accurately count, especially if they’re sleeping in tents, cars, or large-scale encampments." There’s a lot of work that needs to be done but bringing back self- worth is a wonderful start. Thank you, Shirley.
