In Los Angeles, bringing food, soap, and the salon to the homeless

More Than Likes is a series about social media personalities trying to do positive things for their communities.

To Shirley Raines they are royal: the woman with the paralyzed arm who uses a shoelace as a sling. The man whose hands tremble when he opens his bag. The little girl who, seeing Mrs. Raines and her bright hairdo, said “pink hair!”

Ms. Raines, 55, through her Los Angeles-based nonprofit, provides food, hygiene services and unconditional support to those without homes. Beauty 2nd Streetz. They are all “kings” and “queens”.

That’s how she sees the people she serves: royals who have been dealt a bad hand.

‘It has become a small internet family’

Ms. Raines wants to spread that vision – and has used social media to do so. In the truck where she distributes food, there is a camera to capture moments that are uploaded to her TikTok And Instagram accounts (5.3 million and 373,000 followers) that she hopes will change the story of homelessness. It is also a fundraising tool for an operation that runs entirely on donations, Ms Raines said.

“People have come to love some of the people we support and care for,” Ms Raines said. “It has become a small internet family.”

Beauty 2 the Streetz became a registered non-profit organization in 2019. Sydney Granados, the organization’s executive coordinator, estimates it feeds about 1,000 people each week, mostly in Skid Row, a section of Downtown Los Angeles. On some days, Mrs. Raines brings McDonald’s burgers. Other days it’s pizza from Costco. Sometimes a chef in a food truck will cook enchiladas, chicken tortilla soup, or vegan cauliflower steaks. Ms. Raines and her volunteers also hand out toiletries – toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, shampoo – and they even color hair.

“Homelessness is one of those very visual problems,” said Ben Henwood, director of the Center for Homelessness, Housing and Health Equity Research at the University of Southern California. “We see it everywhere, but seeing people for who they are, the human part, we often miss. These kinds of efforts that allow people to connect and be seen on a very individual level, I think, are hugely important for self-esteem.

Wherever she goes, Ms. Raines lifts the mood, with some banter and light teasing. When a man she called Big T turned up in March wearing a jacket that was too tight, Ms. Raines joked that he would “squeeze himself out like a cookie.” She is often seen wearing fuzzy yellow sandals and long rainbow socks, and has learned American Sign Language to communicate with the deaf “kings and queens.”

“She’s very magnetic,” Ms. Granados said. “She’s fun, funny, smart — people love to be around her.”

In 2021, Ms. Raines was named CNN’s Hero of the Year, earning her a $100,000 grant for her organization. The Beauty 2nd Streetz Patreon page pulls in about $6,000 each month, and the group is also asking for donations on Venmo and Cash App. Those donations have allowed her to expand to San Diego, Las Vegas, and Long Beach, California, in recent months.

‘My journey started with pain’

Ms. Raines’ path to creating Beauty 2 the Streetz began in 1990, when she had no home of her own. Her son Demetrius J. Stephens Jr. spent a lot of time with her grandmother, in Compton, California. When Demetrius was 2 years old, she said, he accidentally swallowed an antipsychotic pill meant for one of her uncles and eventually died as a result. Mrs. Raines was 23.

Ms. Raines “became a terror to this world,” she said. “My journey started with pain, death, feeling ‘why am I alive?'”

She had more children, moved into an apartment in Inglewood, California, using a housing voucher, and landed her first adult job as a 411 operator. She took up bodybuilding and became a fitness instructor before transitioning to a career as a medical biller.

Still, Mrs. Raines said, suicidal thoughts overshadowed her. “I went through a lot of excruciating pain that people don’t see,” she said. “That’s what drives this caboose.”

After a candid conversation in 2017 with her twin sister, who begged her to find more emotional stability, Ms. Raines accompanied a friend to volunteer for Pauly’s project, a non-profit organization serving the homeless in Los Angeles. She developed a bond with some of the women she met, who continued to compliment her hair and makeup. So one day Mrs. Raines returned to a Pauly’s Project event with Sephora beauty products and a bucket of hot water. Mrs. Raines dyed the women’s hair and handed out make-up kits.

She eventually attracted such a large following that she went off on her own. She settled on Skid Row with a small team of volunteers, administering what she calls “spiritual resuscitation.”

“Everyone wants to feel clean,” Ms. Raines said. “Everyone wants to feel good about themselves. I have a queen now, we did her hair purple a few weeks ago. I’ve never seen her smile so wide. Her hair, all purple, has been washed out, but her smile is still the same, due to the lasting effects of all the praise she received when her hair was colored. Those things don’t wash off.”

Part of the social media appeal of her videos is the recurring cast of characters her followers have come to know — and Ms. Raines’ relationship with them. A woman, who was pregnant in an earlier video, recently came to the truck with her newborn baby.

“She had the baby!” Mrs. Raines screamed ecstatically as she turned to the camera. “She had the baby!”

However, the effort was not easy and has taken its toll. Her growing celebrity has been particularly hard on her children, she said. “Growing up, I was a woman with a hot temper, partying, never money for them to do anything,” she said. “The world calls me an angel and they don’t see me as an angel.”

Mrs. Raines often thinks of the son she buried. She is especially moved by the children she serves who come to her without parents.

“I think they help me as much as I help them.”