Fresh Start 2024
Donate today to help the unhoused in Downtown
Each week, approximately 1,900 men and women seek services at shelters and homeless service provider facilities in greater Long Beach. Fresh Start was created to assist people experiencing homelessness in Downtown by supporting service providers making the greatest impact on our local unhoused population. The organizations offer a pathway to rehabilitation, job training and housing services.
Your support of Fresh Start enables non-profit service providers (see below) to offer hot showers and personal hygiene supplies to our unhoused neighbors. A donation contributes to a person regaining a piece of everyday life with dignity and helps to dissolve the separateness between a person experiencing homelessness and the rest of society. It is a door through which some will come to accept services, which may include housing, mental health treatment, substance abuse counseling, job training and other community contacts.
DTLB Alliance’s Fresh Start Donation Campaign runs through June 15, 2024. Donated products will be distributed to our non-profit service providers (see below) shortly after the campaign ends.
Donate In-Person (businesses and individuals)
Throughout Downtown, several businesses and residential towers are hosting a Fresh Start Donation Box where individuals can drop off much needed personal hygiene products. This includes bath towels, toothbrushes, soap, brushes, deodorant, and feminine products.
To host a Drop Box, please reach out to JuanT@dlba.org. Drop your donations off at any of the participating businesses in the map below!
Online Donations (Amazon or Venmo)
In less than five minutes, you can make a big difference by purchasing pre-selected products most in need. Click on the Amazon or Venmo buttons below. For Amazon, you’ll link to a customer list/registry. For Venmo, you can donate any amount to us, which we will distribute evenly to the service organizations below.
Shipping: we have included a pre-populated address. On Amazon’s “Select a shipping address” screen, select Kelsey Mader, LONG BEACH, CA. The physical address is hidden on the gift registry per Amazon’s privacy policies, but your purchase will be shipped directly to DTLB Alliance’s office.
The DTLB Alliance team will personally deliver the items to one of the service organizations below. Note: this purchase may be tax deductible – please consult with your tax advisor to determine eligibility.
Our thanks!
DTLB Alliance will send you an official confirmation email letting you know your donated products were delivered to participating Fresh Start service organizations.
Fresh Start Partner Service Organizations
Long Beach Rescue Mission
Offering food, rest, clothing, hygiene – Long Beach Rescue Mission is a refuge from daily despair for many homeless men and women, providing a way off the streets and help getting them on to the road to recovery. Long Beach Rescue Mission is comprised of two facilities. The Samaritan House serves as a home for men while Lydia House offers a safe haven for women and their children.
Mental Health America of Los Angeles
Mental Health America of Los Angeles (MHALA) helps individuals with mental health needs, including transition-age youth, Veterans and their families, and those who may be struggling with homelessness. The organization provides services at multiple sites in Los Angeles County, including Long Beach, the Antelope Valley, and the Santa Clarita Valley. MHALA uses an integrated, comprehensive service model that meets each individual where they are and tailors services to each person’s needs. MHALA has advocated for systems changes for decades and has provided training to thousands of individuals locally, nationally, and internationally.
U.S. VETS – Long Beach
Founded by veterans to serve veterans, U.S.VETS is the largest non-profit organization with boots on the ground to combat America’s homeless veteran crisis head-on. Co-located with 14 other agencies at Century Villages at Cabrillo, U.S.VETS – Long Beach is the largest organization specifically targeting veterans and their families in Long Beach and surrounding communities with a daily service to over 700 veterans and their families. In 2021, we provided 49,455 bed nights, 46,485 warm meals, placed 75 veterans into jobs, assisted 287 veterans in obtaining permanent housing, engaged 1,329 in outreach, and provided 6,115 mental health assessments. Through our transformative care that include transitional and permanent housing, meals, mental health counseling, career and supportive services our veterans rebuild self-sufficient and healthy lives
DTLB Alliance
The Downtown Long Beach Alliance (DTLB Alliance) Homeless Outreach Coordinator strives to meet people where they are and works to build relationships to assist individuals and families in accessing local resources and social service agencies. With this service, the DTLB Alliance provides a Downtown specific resource to assist in overcoming barriers to accepting services and a place where persons experiencing homelessness can receive immediate items such as clothing, hygiene items and transportation assistance. Services include outreach within the district and collaboration and data sharing with city and community partners. The Coordinator regularly connects with outreach workers from the Multi-Service Center and other service providers to share essential information.
Long Beach State University Lauren Chalmers ’83 Beach Pantry
The Laurén Chalmers ’83 Beach Pantry operates as the official food pantry for Long Beach State University (LBSU) students. The pantry provides food items for students in need. An initiative spanning two ASI executive administrations, 2015 ASI Vice President Miriam Hernández and 2016 ASI Vice President Logan Vournas spearheaded the food pantry project into fruition in fall 2016. Also housed in the Laurén Chalmers ’83 Beach Pantry will be the Student Swap Shop program, aimed at providing students with the opportunity to swap unneeded or old school supplies, like books, notebooks and other items essential to education.
Long Beach City College Viking Vault
The Viking Vault is the LBCC food pantry and is located at the Liberal Arts Campus (LAC) in E-131, and Pacific Coast Campus (PCC) in QQ-107. LBCC students are able to visit the Viking Vault and get FREE groceries and snacks to help nourish a healthy body and mind. There are no limits to how many times you visit the Viking Vault.
