Amazon, L'Oreal provide toiletry donations to New York Common Pantry clients
NEW YORK - Hundreds of people in East Harlem received the gift of self-care this week with donations from L'Oreal and Amazon. The New York Common Pantry's clients can feel fresh and clean with their new care packages.
The special delivery arrived just in time to treat NYCP's clients to toiletries, as Amazon and L'Oreal mobilized alongside the nonprofit Robin Hood Foundation.
"These partnerships, they raise awareness," said NYCP executive director Stephen Grimaldi. "They get visibility, but of course they get concrete gifts to the people that then need them."
Robin Hood's annual poverty tracker report shows, since the pandemic, 1 in 3 New York City households has accessed a food pantry, and more than three-quarters of New Yorkers say the cost of food is rising faster than their income.
"We're really just seeing this affordability crisis," explained Hana Haile-Mariam, Robin Hood's managing director of partnerships. "More than half of New Yorkers are in or close to being in poverty, and Robin Hood has been around since 1988 as the largest poverty-fighting philanthropy in New York City, dispersing over $3 billion in grants and we're going to continue to do that."
Project Dignity offers showers, haircuts, laundry services to those in need
The freebies will help fill out the bottom of the tree for Marta Medina and her daughter Darys.
"I told her to come on, because the kids got a lot of toys and we don't have nothing, so we're going to open something," Marta said, shaking her box.
"Very grateful, and I like makeup," said Giovanna Ludena, who was among the first of 500 clients in line.
NYCP's Project Dignity offers clients showers, haircuts and laundry, filling the need daily beyond filling bellies.
"A lot of people appreciate it because it is hard times, especially around the holiday season," Darys said, "so them giving toiletries, they even give you a place to shower, eat, whatever, so it does come in handy."
"Every single dollar that people save means they can put those resources to other things, so it's all beneficial," Grimaldi added.
NYCP is currently on track to serve 12 million meals for the first time in a single year, but the worries can wash away for a moment, for clients caressed in the comfort of self-care.
"I wish everybody a happy Merry Christmas and in Spanish, Feliz Navidad para todo el mundo, for everybody," Ludena said.
NYCP reports, a quarter more clients have asked to access its Project Dignity services this year. They rely on neighbors helping neighbors, and emphasize that no donation is too small. To learn more, click here.
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