Help Distribute Hygiene Essentials to Our Unhoused Neighbors
Project Ropa
About us
Project Ropa is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that helps restore dignity, rekindle optimism and empower the lives of people experiencing homelessness by providing clean clothes, hygiene kits and drinking water in a safe, humane and dignified way. Our retrofitted van functioning as a walk-in closet carries hope as well as a full selection of high-quality men's and women's clothing, shoes and accessories all neatly displayed on racks and shelves similar to a retail environment. Our Mobile Hygiene Service operates weekly in Downtown LA and Echo Park.
Access to hygiene supplies, PPE, sanitizing supplies and drinking water is more important than ever for our unhoused neighbors which is why we continue to work on the frontlines of the pandemic.
Direct Service Volunteer Opportunities
Mobile Hygiene Service - Each week our mobile closet takes to the streets of Los Angeles delivering hope as well as clean clothing, shoes and hygiene kits. We alternate weekly service between locations in Echo Park and Downtown LA on Tuesdays from 8am-12pm. We operate in tandem with mobile showers as well as food and employment and housing resources at both of these locations.
Bi-weekly Street Outreach - On the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sunday of each month we take to streets of Los Angeles on foot to distribute hygiene essentials, PPE, sanitizing supplies and drinking water to unhoused Veterans living by the Veteran's Hospital in Brentwood. Service hours are from 10:30am-12pm.
Learn more about us: www.projectropa.org
About Project Ropa
Location:
13970 Van Ness Avenue, Gardena, CA 90249, US
Mission Statement
The mission of Project Ropa is to restore dignity and empower the lives of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles by providing clean clothes, hygiene essentials, and employment opportunities while reducing textile waste and minimizing our carbon footprint.
Description
Project Ropa was founded in 2016 by Caitlin Adler to address the challenges that people experiencing homelessness face in obtaining and keeping clean clothes. When you're homeless, it doesn't take long to look that way, and the world and your options in it shrink. Most homeless people literally have only the clothes on their backs. Access to clean clothing is essential to the overall well-being of a person and can be the key to opening doors to employment and housing.
How you look affects how you feel about yourself and how others treat you. We believe everyone deserves to be treated with respect. No one should have to wear dirty clothes or clothes that are ill-fitting.
We provide 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 we bring to locations throughout the city each week in a retrofitted van that acts as a mobile walk-in closet. At the same time, the people we serve can take a shower offered by another service provider with whom we work in tandem.
Our social enterprise provides employment opportunities for previously incarcerated individuals and people transitioning out of homelessness to work with our Mobile Hygiene Service.