Assistance League of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County has the highest poverty rate in California. Unfortunately, children are the most vulnerable and in need within this group. 1 in 4 children is severely impoverished; 1 in 4 is hungry and more than 17,000 children have been designated as homeless in the LA School District. These staggering numbers speak for themselves and reveal the saddening reality that Los Angeles’ children and students are in dire need of help. As a reaction to this reality, in 2019 KCIS began collaborating with Assistance League of Los Angeles, a reputable nonprofit that has been serving the LA community for 100 years. We got actively involved with Assistance League of Los Angeles’ Operation School Bell (OSB) Program, a program that provides new school clothing to K-5 students in the Los Angeles area. Volunteers act as “personal shoppers” one-on-one with each child to ensure that all clothing items fit well and that each child feels valued. Through this initiative, we helped distribute school uniforms, jeans and tops, sweat suits, backpacks filled with school supplies, shoes and personal care kits. We provided some of these donations and helped distribute them to children in need. That day, each child received more than a new wardrobe for school because each child was given personal attention and treated with dignity and respect, helping them feel special and loved. For many of the children, this was their first time to get new clothes and they were so excited that they even wore their new shoes and clothing back to school the same day.
Feeding the First
Feeding the First is an LA-based organization dedicated to providing nutritious, well-balanced meals to healthcare workers in Los Angeles who are risking their lives every day to diagnose and treat patients during the global pandemic. Supporting small businesses while feeding LA’s first line responders, Feeding the First partnered with local restaurants to donate 500 meals a day to hospital workers all around Southern California. In an effort to support this meaningful cause, we donated 500 meals for the medical workers in our community. More than delivering a meal, we were delivering a small token of support and appreciation for those fighting the novel coronavirus in the front lines.
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second largest school district in the nation. In 2020, the global pandemic presented many challenges to students continuing their educational journey and those in the LAUSD were no exception. In mid-September 2020, certain local schools in the LAUSD decided to re-open their doors following strict safety protocol. As students began their third week back in school, we wanted to help them get their educational semester started on a positive note in the midst of all the unknown caused by the novel coronavirus. We partnered with LAUSD to prepare and deliver special care packages for these students. These back-to-school gifts were filled with school supplies and stationary materials and helped students begin their school year properly equipped for the challenging year ahead. The care packages were delivered to students K-12 in the LAUSD.
Crete Academy
More than 17,000 students are homeless in the Los Angeles Unified School District and they do not have a way to wash their school clothes. In an effort to help mitigate the many issues that homeless students have to overcome to continue their educational journey, KCIS partnered with Crete Academy, to install a laundry room for its students. Crete Academy is a non-profit charter school in South Central Los Angeles, aimed at serving students experiencing homelessness. Students without a home are more likely to be chronically absent from school because of the difficulties they face, including not having clean clothes. The wash rooms we donated give these students a chance to come to class with clean uniforms and with a higher self esteem. Through this project, we were creating more than just a place for these students to wash their clothes in, we were creating a place where their dignity could be restored and their confidence could be built—all through a clean new outfit to attend class.
