MISSION STATEMENT
As young women in our community, we have been able to identify ways to solve problems in our surrounding community. We are the Lady TigerBots of STEAM Legacy HS and we are proud to say that we have targeted a main civic issue that is not only in our county, state, nation, but worldwide. Our main focus this year has been helping people who are on the verge of becoming homeless and impoverished and people who are currently homeless and in need of all the help that they could get. Our whole mindset throughout this project was that we want to "build a bridge" that will connect the needy to the resources that they need. As a team, we were able to come to a conclusion that helping the impoverished is very much necessary because we knew we would be capable of making profound differences in their lives. We know that although homeless is continuously rising throughout LA County, but we still put our best efforts forward to help make a difference in as many people's lives as possible or even just make someone's day better overall.
PROJECT NEED
As a team, our goal was to be able to solve the problem of the increasingly terrible amount of people living in poverty and on the verge of becoming homeless. After various attempts on deciding what to drive our main focus on this year, as a team we came up with the conclusion of helping the homeless and those on the verge of becoming homeless by building a bridge that connects the needy to the resources they need. In just the Los Angeles County there is about 57, 794 homeless people. These homeless people need motivation and the resources to help them get back on their feet, which is why as part of our project we decided to create an event such as the 5K we did in April to help raise money to put together care packages that we as a team handed out to the Veteran Bell Shelter and to various homeless people on the streets. Through the success of our 5K we were able to raise more than $300 dollars and used that money alongside our budget to put together hygiene care packages that served as motivation and resources to the homeless. Providing these care packages allowed them to acquire a sense of motivation by them developing the mentality that help is on the way. not only was the providing care packages a part of our project but as a team we were able to develop some designs for a portable shower that we as a team are going to build in order to provide free showers to the homeless. As of right now we are on the process of building a prototype through an engineering program called Autodesk and a 3D printer. This prototype will be presented to Antonio Chapa, District Director/Veteran and Homeless Liaison, and an associate of Shower of Hope, an association that provides free showers to the homeless. The need to help those who are homeless is very high because this is a problem that not only affects the homeless but it affects the community we live in as a whole. This need aligns the impact area because it raised a desire within us to make a difference and help the homeless in every way we possibly can. Besides conducting research on various websites, we met with Antonio Chapa and Guadalupe Canveros, Field Deputy of the Southeast Los Angeles Office, who provided us with a lot of valuable information and statistics that were able to help us better our presentations. With their help it was easier for us to find different ways to raise awareness and provide that information with the public. With the surveys that we created to raise awareness we were able to not only identify the problem but to help others identify the problem that surrounds them in their daily lives.
PROCESS
TEAM PLANNING
- The first process of becoming a team was the recruitment; prior to submitting our entry video, members that were part of the first year of GBLA met up with our advisor, Mr.Ibarra, and decided to announce the possibility of joining the team and we also set up dates to meet and have basic introductions with each other and also brainstorm possible ideas for our project focus.
- Throughout the course of this year, it hasn't always been easy to plan what we would be doing with our project due to the lack of communication amongst the team. Despite the obstacles we faced, we were able to push through and complete our work. We met 2-3 times every week in our amazing advisor's engineering lab. In order to assure that all girls would attend the meetings, we set up a Remind group chat to send out messages and reminders to the team.
- Our original ideas were to host a different type of donation drive every month, but we were able to only complete one successfully due to the amount of participation in our school. Within our meetings we brainstormed several possible ideas but our main and most successful idea was hosting a 5K for our school and community, in which we raised over $300. The 5K was our most successful event, but also our most difficult when planning. We were able to team up with several teachers throughout our school and also promote the event with different forms of advertisements such as posters, flyers, announcements, and social media posts.
TEAM EVENTS
- October: 5K for Homeless Veterans - One of our team members was able to get our team and other students at our school a spot in the 5K for Homeless Veterans in DTLA. It was a super successful event, that we were all grateful to have participated in.
- November: Can Food Drive - About 1 month before we went on Thanksgiving Break, we decided to host a can food drive competition within our school. We were able to go to each homeroom in our school and announce to the teachers that on behalf of the Lady TigerBots and as part of our project to help the homeless, we would host a can food drive and the homeroom that brings in the most cans would get a small party for their class only. We received over 300 canned goods from all the homerooms. At the end of the week, we collected all the cans and we were able to donate them to a local church that conducts similar donation drives and volunteer events
- March: Cesar Chavez Day of Service- Our Girls Build LA Team was invited to volunteer at the Cesar Chavez Day of Service alongside County Supervisor Hilda Solis. The event was hosted at the Salvation Army Bell Shelter and we were able to meet with several people who work with Hilda Solis, and one of our team members, Cindy Vargas, actually got to meet her. This was a great opportunity for all of us and it was super eye-opening and also fun. This event helped us push towards the focus of our project and also put is in contact with people such as Guadalupe Camberos and District Director/ Veteran and Homeless Liasion, Antonio Chapa.
- April: 5K for the Homeless- Our original idea back when we first started as a team was to host a 5K to raise money so we could make care packages to donate to the homeless. During the planning of the event, we were told several times to give up and focus on something else, but we did not let those obstacles bring us down. We were able to announce the 5K throughout classes at our school, at the Earth Day Event in South Gate Park, and through several online posts. The event was super successful with over 70 attendees and we raised a lot of money. From the money we raised alongside part of our budget we were able to make over 50 hygiene kits which we donated to a few local homeless citizens and to the Salvation Army Bell Shelter.
PROJECT PLANNER for
5K for the Homeless
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-BAcEecPtYoNdULhPUd8exa4vtcxSgGSNWoKon1eddk/edit?usp=sharing
BUDGET
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y6lLcMjgxXA8-uvtYWciGO2JKsTKgofS5G-SR5RXGaI/edit?usp=sharing