“Love this. @LoveConquersDay is a group of kids providing food & care packs for the homeless community in Dayton, Ohio. They’re raising funds to ensure that they can continue to provide much needed help throughout the year,” Janney said in a tweet on Friday.
Love this. 😍 @LoveConquersDay is a group of kids providing food & care packs for the homeless community in Dayton, Ohio. They're raising funds to ensure that they can continue to provide much needed help throughout the year.
— Allison Janney (@AllisonBJanney) June 13, 2020
You can help out and donatehttps://t.co/vZTg7eoYOM https://t.co/gFpIwBd40v
The nonprofit, founded by Abriella Ruby, 13, of Union, has handed out hundreds of care packs to the homeless community in and around Dayton since its creation almost a year ago. Though she had been wanting to help the homeless community in some way for years, the Dominion Academy of Dayton middle-schooler finally felt like she was old enough to make a difference last year. Along with some help from her mother, Stephanie Ruby, Abriella set out to make a difference in Dayton.
“I’ve wanted to help the homeless community since I was a toddler because whenever I saw any homeless people standing on the side of the street, it just made me feel so emotional because I knew that I needed to help them, but I couldn't really do anything because I was so young,” said Ruby. “But once I got older, I knew I had to do something. So then last fall, I collected over $23,000 in donated items to give and we handed them out at an event. Then, I got all my friends to come together with me.”
The organization’s board consists of many of Ruby’s friends, all younger than 15, who attend monthly meetings and regular events that work to ease the troubles faced by the homeless population in the community.
“They are helping me along this journey,” Ruby said. “And now we are in an organization called Love Conquers Dayton, and we are so trying to help the homeless by giving them all the food or care items that they need.”
When Ruby is not pursuing her dreams of becoming an actress on Broadway, she is raising donations to create care packs for the homeless. These care packs consist of snacks, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, soap, shampoo and colder weather essentials during the winter like hats, gloves and hand warmers.
Currently, the nonprofit is focused on getting the funds together to create even more care packages for the homeless through a donation sweepstakes. Those who donate to the fund (and even those who simply share the Facebook post about the event) will be entered into a sweepstakes to win a one-on-one Zoom session with Lindsay Heather Pearce, an actress starring as Elphaba in Broadway's production "Wicked" and Ruby's vocal coach. The project kicked off in honor of Ruby's 13th birthday, and while the organization had a humble goal of reaching at least $500, Love Conquers Dayton has now surpassed that goal with the help of dozens around the community. Donations can be made to this fundraiser by visiting rallyup.com.
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Last November, Ruby and her friends involved in the mission got together to produce a music video using John Legend's song "If You're Out There" as a call to action for everyone to pitch in and help the community.
Anyone younger than 15 who wants to volunteer to be a part of these efforts can reach out by visiting the organization's website. For those businesses and individuals who want to do more beyond donating to the current fundraiser, they can reach out to the organization at loveconquersdayton.com.
To learn even more about Ruby's valiant efforts to help the homeless community in the Dayton area, pay a visit to the organization's Facebook or Twitter pages.
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