November 18, 2020
Vans Teams Up with Brown Bag Lady to Give Back to Los Angeles
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Over the weekend, Vans teamed up with Los Angeles-based nonprofit, Brown Bag Lady, to donate care packages and meals to un-homed people in the greater Los Angeles area. Eight years ago, Jacqueline Norvell a.k.a “The Brown Bag Lady”, began preparing and delivering meals to the un-homed community along Skid Row in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles.
What started as a small venture led by Jacqueline and her son, has blossomed into a weekly outreach program that collects donations and distributes them to un-homed people throughout L.A. on the first Sunday of each month. “The misconception is that everyone that is homeless, is on drugs. I personally know people with full-time jobs living in a tent or in their car,” Jacqueline explains. A myriad of factors including a lack of affordable housing, unemployment, low wages and poverty have all contributed to a historic increase in un-homed people throughout L.A. From Jacqueline’s firsthand work on the ground she has seen an alarming expansion of un-homed people living on the streets and inside their cars in regions all over the city including, Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Venice Beach, and Westwood.
Vans is proud to have had the opportunity to support Brown Bag Lady’s hard work in ensuring that L.A.’s un-homed community is provided with care packages consisting of footwear, clothing, and other everyday items as the seasons change and it becomes colder in Southern California. “Vans thought of everything from socks to sleeping bags to backpacks, baseball caps and hoodies and sweatshirts. This donation is so greatly appreciated and because of Vans and this very generous donation, we will be able to give over 1,000 people a pair of shoes,” Jacqueline exclaims.
