Meet April Love

Today we’d like to introduce you to April Love.

Hi April, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
The #WhyWeGiveProject started from my frustration in feeling helpless in seeing the droves of homeless people in my daily life in LA. Whether it was seeing a homeless person at the grocery store or at the freeway exit, I knew that I could do something tangible to help. I went to the store and made hygiene kits of necessity toiletry items and snacks to pass out from my car. I then thought what if a mass amount of hygiene kits could be assembled at one time at a social event with my friends. I was confident that a small act of kindness could have a bigger impact than I initially realized. This led to me to research that hygiene items are the second most in demand items needed by those who are homeless but are the least in supply as many shelters only have the budget for food primarily. I wanted to help fill that gap. I was just sitting in my car and thought it would be great to have a nonprofit that helps with this and God spoke to me, “Why don’t you start it?” I thought, “Ok, that makes sense.” That then led to the creation of #WhyWeGiveProject and our first in person volunteer event in February 2020 at an open mic night and art gallery event hosted by Treehouse LA. We had volunteers make quick to assemble hygiene kits while they were educated about the state of homelessness in Los Angeles and how they could incorporate volunteering into their daily life. This led to more in person events until covid which forced us to pivot to virtual volunteering. Even with the challenges of covid our mission became stronger and our hygiene kits came in even greater demand. We partnered with multiple LA based non-profit organizations who needed our help to provide hygiene kits to the homeless community. Since then, we’ve provided over a thousand hygiene kits for the unhoused community in LA with the help of our community and generous donors.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Well, covid-19 definitely presented a different set of challenges no one saw coming. We started out with virtual in person events which then forced us to shift to virtual volunteering and then gradually back to covid safe in person events with necessary precautions. Another challenge we faced was being a new nonprofit on the scene and not having as many resources as a more established nonprofit. However, once we partnered with local LA based nonprofits, it helped us to expand our reach and gain even more resources and donors. For any nonprofit challenges are nothing new but we were able to use our challenges to work more for us than against us and that with God nothing is impossible.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I work as a creative in acting and music. I love doing nonprofit work because I get to directly benefit the community and be more hands on in the change that I seek.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
First, I see our nonprofit branching into other chapters nationwide across American cities hosting ‘pop up’ shop events assembling hygiene kits and distributing them to their unhoused neighbors. Second, I would love to see local community advocacy groups (nationwide) participating in their state and local governments to advocate for fair policies to combat homelessness (which is the broader issue at hand) in their community. One of the major goals of this nonprofit is to inspire millennials to volunteer more in their everyday life while making volunteering a more social experience. I truly believe that we need to have faith that we are the change we need to see in our communities and the more engaged we are in our communities means more opportunities for change can be produced. I think a lot of times, we think change is a major event that happens when really it can be small actions in everyday life over a sequence of time. Social issues such as homelessness can be helped with small acts of kindness everyday. That is the goal and legacy of this nonprofit is to encourage others that they are indeed the change they seek.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://why-we-give-project-36.webself.net/
• Instagram: @whywegiveproject
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whywegiveproject-110797983956442/