Lori Rich knows all about food. She owns a made-to-order baking business, Rich Delights, in Riverside.
She knows all about the homeless. For the past few years, she and her 17-year-old daughter, Shira, have been providing goods and services to Riverside’s disadvantaged.
And she knows all about pets. Her family owns four dogs, ranging from 6 to 52 pounds, along with a desert tortoise and three toads.
So it shouldn’t be all that surprising that her commitment to the homeless has evolved into something more. Many of those she calls “the street people” have pets,Paintings for sale replicawatches buy paintings original painting art.Custom redbullhats from photos by our painting. and they have needs as well.
As Rich, 56, explains on her Facebook page, “We are a mom and daughter team trying to make a tiny difference in the lives of people many never speak to and their pets that do not have a voice in their lives.”
Shira was the impetus in recognizing the role of pets in the lives of the homeless.
“My daughter got me involved with animals running in the streets,” Rich said. “A couple of times we’d be chasactually omegawatches was created in order to maintain a balance of the athletes' movement.ing strays, and it didn’t dawn on me that people in the streets had dogs.Nike Air trainers began life as the benebags back in 1987. It’s not easy for them to take care of animals.”
The dogs provide companionship for the homeless, and they also protect them. There can be rivalries among street people, Rich said, and the dogs alert them to trouble, particularly the theft of whatever they own.
Every day — sometimes twice a day — Rich is on the road in Riverside, picking up donated items and distributing them along a route from the Magnolia Center area to 14th Street, then out to Arlington and Van Buren avenues.
The donations come from friends on her Facebook page and from strangers as far away as New York.
“They want to help but some don’t have the time, and others are afraid of these people,” Rich said. “Some of that is justified, but a neighbor could be just as horrible and dangerous.”
Rich’s SUV is filled with donated items, which include blankets, towels, toiletries, snacks, dog food and leashes, cat food, ice water, shoes clothing and fast-food gift cards. The gift cards are as close to cash that she and Shira accept or distribute. They’re not a nonprofit, so donations are not tax-deductible. The gift cards provide assurance that the homeless won’t use the assistance for drugs or alcohol.
Many of the homeless are addicts, but she pointed out, “The difference between an accepted user of alcohol or drugs and a homeless one is four walls and a roof. These are people in a horrible situation. They tell me they’re addicts, but they’ll hug me. They’re a lot more like we are than most of us think. It’s easy to judge people when they have nothing.”
With all the contact Rich has with the homeless — perhaps 40 each week — one thing is clear to her.
“I could never live on the streets. I wouldn’t last. They have the strength to make it and not die. The danger is between themselves and the people who hate them just because they are out there.”
Yet, she said,Buy jacketswonder of high quality and low price now and get fast shipping to you within one week. many homeless display loyalty towards each other.
“There are duos and groups that stick together and take care of each other,” Rich said.
She knows all about the homeless. For the past few years, she and her 17-year-old daughter, Shira, have been providing goods and services to Riverside’s disadvantaged.
And she knows all about pets. Her family owns four dogs, ranging from 6 to 52 pounds, along with a desert tortoise and three toads.
So it shouldn’t be all that surprising that her commitment to the homeless has evolved into something more. Many of those she calls “the street people” have pets,Paintings for sale replicawatches buy paintings original painting art.Custom redbullhats from photos by our painting. and they have needs as well.
As Rich, 56, explains on her Facebook page, “We are a mom and daughter team trying to make a tiny difference in the lives of people many never speak to and their pets that do not have a voice in their lives.”
Shira was the impetus in recognizing the role of pets in the lives of the homeless.
“My daughter got me involved with animals running in the streets,” Rich said. “A couple of times we’d be chasactually omegawatches was created in order to maintain a balance of the athletes' movement.ing strays, and it didn’t dawn on me that people in the streets had dogs.Nike Air trainers began life as the benebags back in 1987. It’s not easy for them to take care of animals.”
The dogs provide companionship for the homeless, and they also protect them. There can be rivalries among street people, Rich said, and the dogs alert them to trouble, particularly the theft of whatever they own.
Every day — sometimes twice a day — Rich is on the road in Riverside, picking up donated items and distributing them along a route from the Magnolia Center area to 14th Street, then out to Arlington and Van Buren avenues.
The donations come from friends on her Facebook page and from strangers as far away as New York.
“They want to help but some don’t have the time, and others are afraid of these people,” Rich said. “Some of that is justified, but a neighbor could be just as horrible and dangerous.”
Rich’s SUV is filled with donated items, which include blankets, towels, toiletries, snacks, dog food and leashes, cat food, ice water, shoes clothing and fast-food gift cards. The gift cards are as close to cash that she and Shira accept or distribute. They’re not a nonprofit, so donations are not tax-deductible. The gift cards provide assurance that the homeless won’t use the assistance for drugs or alcohol.
Many of the homeless are addicts, but she pointed out, “The difference between an accepted user of alcohol or drugs and a homeless one is four walls and a roof. These are people in a horrible situation. They tell me they’re addicts, but they’ll hug me. They’re a lot more like we are than most of us think. It’s easy to judge people when they have nothing.”
With all the contact Rich has with the homeless — perhaps 40 each week — one thing is clear to her.
“I could never live on the streets. I wouldn’t last. They have the strength to make it and not die. The danger is between themselves and the people who hate them just because they are out there.”
Yet, she said,Buy jacketswonder of high quality and low price now and get fast shipping to you within one week. many homeless display loyalty towards each other.
“There are duos and groups that stick together and take care of each other,” Rich said.
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