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The word “transformation” is a subjective one, but the amount of power that it holds is no doubt remarkable. Whether you’re talking about transforming your mind, your housing situation, or your whole future, life-altering change is the undercurrent there.
It’s not something that happens overnight either, as I’m sure you know. It takes conscious and focused steps towards betterment and growth, and it’s not always something that can be done alone. Sometimes it does take a “village” and we’re grateful that our LA communities have so many to lean on.
If you’re wondering where these proverbial villages are and how to find them, we’ve got one in mind that we couldn’t be more thrilled to circle back to and talk about.
Dream Center is an outstanding organization based in LA that has been supporting community members affected by homelessness, hunger, and a lack of education since 1994. As an all-inclusive resource center with vital residential, outreach, and other resource programs, the Dream Center serves over 40,000 people a month, and if that isn’t inspiring, we don’t know what is.
Connecting people in need to a community of support and resources that address short and long-term needs is the mission at Dream Center and, of course, we want to be a part of that. Well, let me clarify: We want to be a part of that again. Last year we already deemed the organization a cause that we love, and we were very eager to reconnect with them again.
At Advertise Purple, we love getting involved with organizations, like this one, that are beacons of hope for those in need, especially during the pandemic. As we’re all aware, it continues to affect so many in our community, and we feel it’s our responsibility as members to extend all the love we can.
We worked with the Dream Center around this time last year and raised $2,620 for their Covid relief, so we were thrilled at the opportunity to partner with them again and do even more.
In an effort to catch up with all the wonderful things they’ve done since we last met, we set up another donation event and presentation over Zoom last week on July 27th. Dream Center’s Tim Baker and Justin High led the presentation and our team got a virtual tour of their campus, learned about their community initiatives over the last year, their current needs, and more.
Currently, they’re working on two initiatives, #RestoreLA and the Dream Fund, which are both designed to bring people together to educate them about community needs. The primary goal of these initiatives is to help others see the transformation happening in the lives of the people they work with daily and to give individuals, organizations, and businesses a chance to partner with them. After everything, it was abundantly clear that they’ve continued doing what they always do, which is transforming lives.
“It was so amazing to host a virtual Zoom tour of the Dream Center for Kyle and all of the people at Advertise Purple. We’re so grateful for their amazing donation and desire to help us keep feeding and clothing our community here in LA,” said Tim, their Assistant Director of Development. “I just love it when there are individuals and businesses who see a need and then do something about it.”
And we wouldn’t have it any other way, Tim. After the incredible presentation, our team worked together to pool together as many monetary donations as we could before our president, Kyle Mitnick, matched them 3x. After the match, we’re so thrilled to announce that Advertise Purple was able to outdo our donation last year and raise $2,820 for the Dream Center.
“We are so grateful for the generosity of organizations like Advertise Purple who are helping us continue serving and restoring LA every day,” said Pastor Matthew Barnett, the Co-Founder of the Dream Center. “From all of us at the Los Angeles Dream Center, we can’t say thank you enough for choosing us to get our city back on its feet and see lives transformed!”
Likewise, Pastor Matthew. We can’t thank the Dream Center enough for its dedicated hand in keeping our community safe and well-supported through the pandemic and beyond! Meeting them and their tremendous efforts was not just a necessity for us, but a no-brainer.
“Dream Center has been a close partner of ours for years, and their commitment to delivering needed resources to Los Angeles communities is second to none,” says our president, Kyle. “I’d also like to thank the AdPurp team for being so generous with their donations. It’s truly heartwarming to know that our colleagues care about these issues in the community and are actively taking steps to help.”
Whether you’re interested in donating money or time to help the Dream Center continue transforming lives, there’s an abundance of ways for you to get involved. Here are a few:
- Visit their donation page and contribute a monthly or one-time monetary gift
- They’re taking volunteers at a limited capacity to safely serve the community, so visit their signup page
- Become a fundraiser to help them continue their mission
And here are just a few things they’ll be able to continue doing with your donation with your help:
- Serving over 2,000 hot, nutritionally balanced meals daily
- Distributing over half a million pounds of food to various communities
- Offering free individualized GED tutoring, life skills classes, job readiness classes, and more
- Providing necessary furniture items, groceries, and hygiene items to keep families together
- Giving support through their four different transitional housing programs
No matter how you choose to get involved, just know that it makes a phenomenal difference.
A big thank you to the Dream Center again for allowing us to partner with them and for everything they do for our LA communities. As I said earlier, sometimes it takes a village, but together we can bring love, relief, and hope to our neighbors through organizations like the Dream Center. Until next time!
