Picture taken from the Project Ropa website (projectropa.org)

Since 2016, Project Ropa has focused on offering a selection of clean clothes to people experiencing homelessness as their main goal. Founded by Caitlin Adler, this nonprofit works upon the premise of treating everyone with the respect they deserve, uplifting them during the hard times they’re going through. 

“How you look affects how you feel about yourself and how others treat you”, Adler says. Homelessness is accompanied by many deprivations — from food, to shelter, to safety — and one of its greatest indignities comes from the absence of hygiene services. That’s where Project Ropa comes in. 

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic spreading worldwide and in the U.S., the challenges of those without a home are greater and harder. Not having access to clean clothes for a long period of time makes them more vulnerable to the spread of transmissible diseases, including COVID-19. In simple words, this nonprofit’s work is more important now than ever before in order to help contain the pandemic within people experiencing homelessness. 

Project Ropa provides a curated selection of new and gently used high-quality men’s and women’s clothing, shoes and accessories, along with personal hygiene products — all donated by local manufacturers, retailers and nonprofit partners — which they bring to different locations in the Greater Los Angeles area each week in a retrofitted van that acts as a mobile walk-in closet. At the same time, the people they serve can take a shower offered by another service provider that partnered with the organization. 

Picture taken from the Project Ropa website (projectropa.org)

Making homeless people feel good and look good is the first step Project Ropa took as part of the process of restoring their dignity and giving a helping hand to them. This project not only works as a social enterprise, it’s also sustainable: their eco-friendly recycling program helps reduce the clothing waste that is going into landfills. All of the donation items they receive are either directly given out to people experiencing homelessness during their Mobile Hygiene Service, redistributed to a partner organization or recycled.

Let’s help Project Ropa change the world, one piece of clothing at a time. 

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