Shirley Raines, who brings beauty and hope to Skid Row, is CNN’s Hero of the Year

(CNN) – Shirley Raines, who brings beauty and hope to the men and women who live in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles, is CNN’s Hero of the Year in 2021.

When she received her award Sunday, Raines thanked her children, including her late son, who inspired her work.

“This surely has not been easy. I stand before you as a very broken woman,” said an excited Raines. “I am a mother without a son and there are a lot of people on the streets without a mother, and I feel like it’s a fair exchange.”

Raines received CNN’s Hero of the Year award Sunday night by hosts Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa. Online voters selected her among the finalists for CNN’s Top 10 Heroes this year.

Raines and his nonprofit organization Beauty 2 the Streetz They have been a mainstay on Skid Row for the past six years, providing food, clothing, and hair and makeup services to thousands of people.

Each week, Raines and his team of volunteers set up a store and transform part of Skid Row, home to one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the country, into an open-air beauty salon.

Their goal: to make the homeless feel human, whether it’s a haircut, a facial, a big meal, or a hug.

“It’s not so much about makeup or styling, but also about physical contact,” Raines said. “People need physical contact. That was the difficult thing when the pandemic hit. We had to stop combing our hair, we had to stop doing hairdressing services. And that could be the most pleasant touch they have had all day.”

As CNN 2021 Hero of the Year, Raines will receive $ 100,000 to expand his work. She and the other top 10 CNN heroes honored at Sunday’s gala receive a cash prize of $ 10,000.

Raines struggled for years with financial insecurity, grief, and loss after the death of her young son, Demetrius.

“The world looked at me and thought probably the same thing they think about homeless people when they pass by,” he said. “You never know what someone is going through, you know?”

Raines’ twin sister urged her to find a purpose for her pain. That purpose came in 2017 when Raines joined a church group on a feeding mission.

“I went to Skid Row and I was like, ‘Oh, is this where all the broken people are? Oh, I’ve been looking for them my whole life,” he said. “I didn’t want to leave anymore. It’s a place where people have incredible hearts, but no one can see it because they can’t see the forest for the trees.”

Initially, Beauty 2 the Streetz was small, only Raines and her children helped distribute food, drinks, hygiene kits and beauty products. Raines dyed hair and made up people.

But then she started live-streaming the events and posting photos on Instagram, and Beauty 2 the Streetz soon became more popular.

Licensed hairstylists, hairdressers, makeup artists, and even large makeup companies reached out to Raines to say they wanted to help.

By 2019, Raines had registered Beauty 2 the Streetz as an official nonprofit with approximately two dozen volunteers generously offering their time and efforts to help Skid Row residents feel beautiful.

As Raines’s efforts evolved into a large-scale operation, with music and lines around the block, he began to provide more supplies and essentials: rape whistles, tents, sleeping bags, hygiene items, and partnered with local health officials to offer more services.

Before the pandemic, Raines prepared 400 meals a week in the kitchen of his one-bedroom apartment in Long Beach and drove three times a week to downtown Los Angeles to feed and deliver supplies to people.

Then when the covid-19 affected the efforts of many organizations, the services were exhausted. But Raines took a turn, opting for bagged lunches and a tight schedule, and moved on.

In conjunction with the health department, which provided masks, disinfectant and other personal protective items, Raines said his group and other Los Angeles County community and nonprofit projects worked tirelessly to serve the invisible.

“We just had to use our best judgment and find some ways to keep them fed, while keeping them safe and while staying safe,” Raines said.

Today, as vaccination rates rise and a sense of normalcy returns, Raines offers help with food and supplies twice a week and expands partnerships with local groups so that this often-ignored population knows there is hope.

“My sun did not rise for 30 years. It was 30 years of mornings before I even saw the sunrise. I would be lying if I said that I am always completely happy doing this. This does not take away the pain of my son’s death. But I have certainly improved. I can say his name now. He is the reason I do what I do. “

If you know someone who is making the world a better place, you can nominate them for CNN 2022 Hero of the Year at CNNHeroes.com. If you’d like to support the work of Raines or any of CNN’s Top 10 Heroes nonprofits, you can also make a donation through CNNHeroes.com. All donations made through January 3 will be matched by Subaru up to $ 50,000 per hero.

For more information, follow CNN Heroes on Facebook, to @CNNHeroes on Twitter and the account of CNN Heroes on Instagram.

CNN’s Alicia Lee contributed to this report.