The statistics are staggering – over 80,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles County every night. One pre-Thanksgiving day, Pink Princess staffer Nancy decided she was going to do something about it. She put together “A Warmer Christmas,” a one day charity event for Los Angeles’ homeless, and invited all of her friends to donate cold weather items and to volunteer in the eventual distribution process. Word quickly spread and for about a month items were collected, individually bagged, and stuffed with letters of encouragement. Excitement was building at Pink Princess Headquarters in the days leading up to “A Warmer Christmas.” We had hoped and hoped for a big turnout of volunteers. But when “A Warmer Christmas” arrived some two Saturdays ago, only four people showed up. What we lacked in number, we had in heart. Under the guidance of caring advocate Nancy, Pink Princess staffer Kimberly, my friend Luke, and I received maps and directions, split up into two teams, and off we went!

Hailing from a wee town some miles outside of LA, Luke and I got lost navigating, but we kept in constant contact with Kim and Nancy who knew LA much better than we did! Truth be told, the homeless were a tad difficult to locate, and when we found them, some were shy, didn’t think we spoke the same language, and didn’t want to talk to us. But we overcame that pesky language barrier! Luke and I met a lot of grateful people including a mother whose daughters needed warm clothes, a man who didn’t have a place to shower, a father and son who needed Christmas cheer, and a man grateful for water. We eventually encountered people living in tents across a church. By that time we were running low on clothes to hand out and there were a lot of people who did not receive any. But we got a little help from our friends. Kimberly and Nancy still had clothes to pass out, so we gave them directions to the tents. Afterwards, we regrouped and exchanged notes over a meal. While what we did was small, we hope that it was enough to touch the lives of those we met. It certainly touched ours. A Warmer Christmas, indeed.