Union Station Homeless Shelter
The Pasadena/Altadena Ivy Foundation in partnership with the Pasadena/Altadena Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. continues its goal of positively impacting the community through its support of Union Station Homeless Shelter, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in Pasadena that is committed to helping homeless men, women and children rebuild their lives.
Bagged Lunch Donation
Each year, the organizations provide lunch to brown bag lunches to Union Station. In 2016, the organizations donated 150 full lunches that included 2 sandwiches, 2 chips, 1 granola bar, 1 piece of fruit, candy, and bottled water. These donations are important to Union Station because people in their work programs that are going out on interviews and training can grab bag lunches and continue with their day without missing a meal.
Women's Hygiene Items and Diapers
Within Homeless Shelters, the second most requested item after food is Women's Sanitary items. When women live on the streets, their monthly body cycle does not stop so each month they are challenged with how to care for their bodies during that time of the month. Solutions include rinsing out the hygiene items that they have and reusing them. Another answer is to go without and try to keep finding someplace to clean-up.
Another challenge facing the homeless with infants is diapers. It costs about $18/week to keep a baby/toddler in diapers. If you don't have a home, you really can't afford these diapers that are a necessity.
In order to impact both women's hygiene items and diapers, the Pasadena/Altadena Ivy Foundation partnered with the Pasadena/Altadena Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. to donate diapers, tampons and sanitary napkins to Union Station. Union Station was grateful for these donations as they are crucial to normalizing day-to-day life of people at their shelter that are struggling to back on track and rebuild their lives.