'Dignity for Divas' brings hope to Seattle's homeless women
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SEATTLE - A local woman has teamed up with Seattle police and gathered a group of volunteers to give bags of hope to women at risk.
The volunteers, who call themselves "Dignity for Divas," hit the streets and go to work.
Nikki Gane knows the streets of Seattle can be a tough place to live - she once called these streets home.
"I had a taste of it enough to know what it felt not to have the daily things," she says.
Things like a toothbrush and toothpaste; shampoo and conditioner.
"I just couldn't run away from that feeling that I was left with, and I knew I had to do something," says Gane.
So she began Dignity for Divas - a group of volunteers who collect personal hygiene items, bag them, then give them to those in need.
On a recent night, Gane and her team of volunteers boarded a bus, headed into downtown and began their mission.
They have teamed up with Seattle police officers to hand out "Diva bags."
On this night the volunteers handed out about 85 bags in just over an hour - led in part by Seattle police outreach officers.
"The ladies help us by that little contact, to soften the approach, and they come with the belongings," says David Hockett of the Seattle Police Department.
Gane says giving homeless women daily supplies can give them confidence to break the homeless cycle.
The goal isn't to make them into someone else, but, as Gane says, "To make you feel like yourself again."
"Pray the Lord blesses them sevenfold - just like they came and blessed us," says one homeless woman.
The Divas say they hope to partner with the Seattle Police Department twice a month for deliveries.
The volunteers, who call themselves "Dignity for Divas," hit the streets and go to work.
Nikki Gane knows the streets of Seattle can be a tough place to live - she once called these streets home.
"I had a taste of it enough to know what it felt not to have the daily things," she says.
Things like a toothbrush and toothpaste; shampoo and conditioner.
"I just couldn't run away from that feeling that I was left with, and I knew I had to do something," says Gane.
So she began Dignity for Divas - a group of volunteers who collect personal hygiene items, bag them, then give them to those in need.
On a recent night, Gane and her team of volunteers boarded a bus, headed into downtown and began their mission.
They have teamed up with Seattle police officers to hand out "Diva bags."
On this night the volunteers handed out about 85 bags in just over an hour - led in part by Seattle police outreach officers.
"The ladies help us by that little contact, to soften the approach, and they come with the belongings," says David Hockett of the Seattle Police Department.
Gane says giving homeless women daily supplies can give them confidence to break the homeless cycle.
The goal isn't to make them into someone else, but, as Gane says, "To make you feel like yourself again."
"Pray the Lord blesses them sevenfold - just like they came and blessed us," says one homeless woman.
The Divas say they hope to partner with the Seattle Police Department twice a month for deliveries.
So many people screaming about how they don't want a penny of their tax dollars going toward helping the less fortunate. Then when a group of people decide that they will take it upon themselves to help out by simply giving them some hygene products, the same people scream that they are undeserving. How in the world are the less fortunate people going to work on bettering their situation while so many people, who think that they are better, keep kicking them while they are already down. You'd rather make an effort to spit in their face than to reach out your hand.. either way your still making the same effort, but trust that reaching out your hand will make you feel better as a person. You may never know what it is like to get by on a few dollars that you were fortunate enough to collect, or a genuinely nice hand out that will make you feel clean for the first time in a long time. Try to help someone who is less fortunate, kind acts are contageous. We can all hope that everyone will pay it forward, given the right opportunity.
People are disgusting with their selfish comments. Homeless. MAN OR WOMAN deserve equal respect. Its not a crime to be poor, I am sorry for all of you hard working tax payers who act like you people are the only one who pay into taxes. I can almost bet a lot of the homeless now have HAD JOBS AND HAVE HAD HOMES. Does not take much to loose everything, have a heart.Â
I can't help but wonder if there were cigarettes in those bags.  A lot of those destitute women were smoking like a stove.
The one in the picture with the brown coat with a hood needs a shave, that is quite a grown of facial hair going there.  I hope the "Divas" included a razor in the package.
When I worked in a mill all the women joked about how they had worked around men so long they did not know if they where suppose to shave thier legs, or faces.  I know the answer now.
@abelia What I took away from this article is interesting. It tells me that a bunch of African-American women opine that âThings like a toothbrush and toothpaste; shampoo and conditionerâ are very important to them. So be it.
A previously homeless AFRICAN woman exchange student coworker was astounded by this article. She suggests that her homeland was âco-optedâ by persons that have never been there. She wonders why these persons have not taken advantage the âvast amount of educational opportunities in your countryâ¦â
She went on to add that such free amenities would have never entered her mind. She did allow that she, and her friends, as well as the persons in this article paid nothing toward a government stipend such as income taxes. I, in turn, allowed that such was a matter of interpretation.
@abeliaÂ
So, that is what you took away from this article, nothing else?
You lead a sad life if all you have to contribute is belittling others.
@LocalLady @abelia     The only thing sad is the fact that you seem to think I am belittling others, for a man to be taking something that is suppose to be given to women is just another waste of resources for those who really need them as I see it. I am not judging him - nor did I, and if you can not take a little humor in your life - that is sad.
@SandyBeach @abelia  Thanks - you could be correct -  her hair was so nicely done, and her clothes looked too nice for her to be homeless, so I assumed the man.(who is not a diva, or is he?) was the homeless one. Never assume - I know.
@abelia I think she missed your point and I also think the guy is handing stuff out....Â
@LocalLady I gotta admit I didn't take away whole lot from it either.....
Wow, couldn't even get through most of the comments. Â Not everyone on the streets is a crack ho. Â I met TWO women on Thursday whose husbands (yes, they were married) both booked, after cleaning out the bank accounts and one made sure he beat the crap out of his wife before he did it. Â These women have kids and the rent will be due soon and they have nothing. Â I volunteer with a women's day shelter, and sure, there are people who take advantage, but there are also people who have horrific abuse in their pasts and can't trust anyone, ever, and others who are educated and were downsized and can't crawl out of the deep hole they are in, and many others in between. Â Even if the Divas for Dignity are being taken advantage of, their hearts are in the right place.
@Doxie I get what you say and applaud it. However, you have accepted without question the word of TWO, arguably sketchy, individuals out of how many in the recipient group?
Iâm sorry but I did the âNam and worked HâZoo for many years and tend to look at everybody with a skeptical eye.
@GOATCUTTERÂ Hello, and sorry I didn't clarify, but I met these two moms at a rural food bank, where fortunately, there was a homeless outreach person working to connect people with services that day. Â I too tend to be skeptical, but not on that day with those two ladies. Â They were scared and alone and probably soon to be evicted, never needed help before, and were scared.
Good Morning ... I would hope that all these folks with hateful negative comments... NEVER need help...
@DISPATCH911Â
More than likely,m they would be the ones DEMANDING everything but the kitchen sink be given to them, no questions asked - because they "deserve" it.
Dignity? Ever been on the bus full of women going up to a certain Cap Hill shelter at 9 PM?
@Getov Mylon Many, many times mate. Welcome to city life.Â
@Citizen#3457899654Â Me too. Â
"Hey! Get your f+#$%%& foot off my bag!"
"You're sittin' too close to me, %%^&(*! Back off!"
"I NEED three seats because of my leg!"
"That's MINE!"
Squabble, squabble. Ah yes... dignity. I'm not "judging." Just saying that on the priority list, "dignity" seems to fall way down there.
free crack?
What is in a bag of Hope? An Obama shirt and a phone?
How can there be "dignity" without earning it? Can a taxpayer be forced into giving dignity to those who will not or can not provide for themselves?
@contraryjimÂ
First of all, this is not funded by taxpayers.
And ANYONE can have a sense of dignity be "given" to them by how they are seen/treated by others. If you treat them as human beings instead of considering them a piece of worthless trash, that act alone gives them "diginity".
@LocalLady @contraryjim I don't agree with "anyone". I have helped people and learned it is a very strange feeling when it makes so little impact on them that the person you helped barely even acknowledges it happened. Saying that you give anyone dignity by helping them can unfortunately only apply to the ones that noticed.
By what the video is showing, these people can afford cigarettes, hair weaves, expensive tennis shoes and more. Yes they could have been given to them, but why give them something they don't NEED. And I can understand giving tooth brush and paste since you can go into any restroom and brush your teeth, but where do they wash their hair if they are homeless? "Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime." As @SandyBeach  said below, it's starts with self-respect. But personal responsibility also is a big factor.
@Robinsnest @SandyBeach You can wash your hair in a public restroom, they have sinks. I've washed my hair in a public restroom sink when on a layover for a long overseas flight before.
It starts with self-respect....
@SandyBeachÂ
And what do YOU think "self respect" starts with? Being able to be presentable - clean hair, brushed teeth, clean clothes, deoderant. ALL things you probably take for granted, but ALL things that those who are homeless more often than not do without.
@SandyBeach"Self Respect..."
Yeah, try to find that when you live on the street, forced there by an abusive spouse/partner, losing your job because someone else want's more profit, vulnerable to violent rapists, and people who don't even see you when they walk down the street on their way to their favorite haute cuisine and a fine show after.
Thats a nice name for a group. I'm glad they are trying to help.
good for them for trying to do something good - the name is obnoxious though. every chick thinks she's a "diva" now.
@SwampThing The term "chick" is also obnoxious, at least to the women I know.
@Furd @SwampThing"...at least to the women I know."
 Portlandia rejects are not chicks.Â
"Divas for Dignity"  I got an idea! Get a job, get off welfare/DSHS/food stamp and do something for society.
@Tanner Scheid What do you do for society other than judge it's most vulnerable?
I've rarely seen such pathetic hatred of the poor as I have read here. Sad.
@OrcasThunder @Alikelystorey Genocide? That's a bit harsh...maybe we can learn from the Progs on how to be civil when we go to the work camps, eh?
@Alikelystorey Stick around, it gets much worse. Pandemic vitriolic, almost genocidal.
@Tanner Scheid Should be pretty easy, with the enormous amount of jobs out there which no one is competing for. I bet they'd thank you for that pearl of wisdom. No one could have thought of "get a job" by themselves.Â
No company wants to hire someone without a home address, dependable transportation, and a phone to be contacted at. There are hundreds of easier candidates for the job.
@Hadrian@Tanner ScheidGovernment employment rules almost deny an employer discretion and risk taking.
Oh wow, someone doing something nice for someone else. Bunch of hoes. Horrible people. This is a terrible excuse for news! We demand more shooting reports! More assault! Â We only like these matters if WE can take credit for donations or helping out.Â
There are a few "devas" on my busride home that could use some help....damn crackhoes!
@BigdaddyOmar Ride another bus then. They won't miss you.
Seems about right. The focus to help women (only) in about every facet of life is the new, popular thing.Â
85% of homeless people are men. But screw them, right? Homeless men is just business as usual. We need to help the gender who hasn't faced homelessness before.Â
Males suffer from heart attacks in greater numbers than females. But it's not "wear red for heart awareness," it's "wear red for women."
It's not a domestic violence law for both genders, it's the "Violence Against Women Act."Â
Where's the awareness on prostate cancer? Almost no where. But PINK for breast cancer -- everywhere.Â
It must have been so heart warming for these men, who've been kicked to the streets to see women taken off the streets, given shelters while they were left out in the cold. I guess it's correct: Men are Disposable.Â
@Lisa Was going to comment but since you covered all the bases all I have to say is this: Bravo, and thanks for being one of the very few willing to tell the "politically incorrect" truth. 85% of homeless are male and we get a news story about how the few homeless women need dignity? Sure, but if you're a man, just go die in the gutter. Sickening.
BTW, how many fof those male homeless are honorably discharged combat vets?
@GOATCUTTER Yep, the men that are used and thrown away and forgotten about. And to think there are worthless twats like Hillary Clinton stating blatant lies like "Women have always been the true victims of war"......when women get their legs blown off by an IED in the same numbers as men, then come talk to me.
@LisaÂ
Geez, you are such a sour biddy.Â
The MAJORITY of shelter beds are for MEN, not women.
The wear red campaign is because when a woman has a heart attack, she does not normally suffer the "classic symptoms" - in fact (according to my cardiologist - yes, I am a heart attack surviuvor), the majority of women who suffer a heart attack have "silent" heart attacks, ones with no overt symptoms at all.
The MAJORITY of DV victims are women, not men.
Prostate cancer DOES have an "awareness campaign" - they use baby blue ribbons.
You seem to be a very bitter, nasty person who feels that women are "getting it all" while men are "getting nothing" - and you would be completely wrong. Are you personally doing anything to even things out, helping the homeless men you seem to be championing here by denegrating homeless women?
@Lisa You seem to have some serious gender issues...get some help.
@Lisa Actually, women have pretty much caught up to men with regard to heart attacks.
Women are far more often victims of domestic violence than men.
They've made some advances in prostate cancer but not so much in women's cancers like breast cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancers.
There are shelters for men just as there are shelters for women, the shelters are different because often the women have little kids in tow whereas the men don't.
Why so much anger against women? You're actually a bitter guy aren't you?Â
@Lisa I'd begin to wholeheartedly agree with you...except in general, women need more and differening "hygene" products than men, and I imagine that could get a bit daunting with no way to buy them. (though yes, the sheer number of shelters for women, battered or not, and the lack of them for everybody as a whole is insulting)