Hello, my name is Precious Alfaro, the founder of the developing non-profit, The Crimson Clover Organization. Crimson Clover is focused on empowering young people to help others by donating their art and their time to help feed homeless individuals in our communities, giving them a new way to get involved, whether that is by organizing art events where all proceeds go to our food program or skate events where we go out and feed the homeless.  We are a network of mentors who want to influence a culture change within society.

To fully explain this organization, I need to first explain just a little about myself. I was born and raised in Los Angeles California; in a low-income neighborhood, where my friends and I were poor. My parents, like others in my neighborhood, were addicts. My mother was lucky enough to escape addiction while unfortunately, my father was not. This led to him being homeless. For years I turned my back on him until I realized just what I had been doing. For years after that, I spent my mornings and afternoons driving around Los Angeles looking for my homeless father just so that I knew he would eat that day. Somedays I found him and some days I didn’t; those were always the hardest. I developed a sort of sixth sense when it came to my dad, almost as if I knew when he needed me. One 107 degree summer afternoon I had the urge to look for him. I had driven around for about an hour with no luck until I just happened to turn a corner and look down. That’s when I saw a body lying in the middle of the sidewalk baked and burned. I parked my car in the middle of the street and ran towards the man that raised me, the man that taught me to never say “can’t”, now lying lifeless on the ground. There I was running towards what I thought was my dead father, from the other direction a group of young adults stepping over him, never ever once looking down, never once thinking that a homeless person could hold any value to anyone else. That was the moment everything changed for me. It really put my own selfishness in perspective and made me want to help.

We live in a generation where it is more important to have a nice pair of shoes than it is to care about another person. That is not who I want to be, that isn’t the person my father raised me to be, and that is not something I want to be a part of. That is not the mentality that I want my nieces or nephews to have, that is why this concept is so important. My goal for this organization is to find ways to encourage young people to get involved. We will use art, in its many forms as our main operational platform and urge young people to get involved by donating their art and time. Thanks to the Mentors Foundation we are in the process of getting our 501C3 and are working with a non-profit advisor who will help us reach our full potential. Everyone knows the stigma that surrounds homelessness, and our intention is to find creative ways to help combat that stereotype. Every person in this world has value, every person is someone’s father, mother, sister, brother.  A simple act of kindness doesn’t have to be money. It’s a smile; it is an acknowledgment that can change the potential one sees within themself.  Crimson Clover will offer ways for people to empower others. It will allow us the opportunity to support both our youth and our community. Crimson Clover will not be an organization that just helps feed people. Our primary focus is to help people of all ages become more self-sufficient.