Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nonprofit gives Las Vegas homeless a place to shop with dignity

Homeless Image

Ian Whitaker

Deborah Lee Girardot looks through Dinosaurs & Roses’ “Street Store” for clothes, Friday, Nov. 7, 2014.

Deborah Lee Girardot, 40, knows exactly what she wants as she searches through a pile of shoes.

“Sandals,” she says while pointing down to her own pair, which are dirty and worn from walking the streets every day. “Or tennis shoes. I could go for those.”

Adam, her personal shopper for the day, waits patiently as she tries on a pair.

“How do they feel?” he asks.

They don’t fit, so she puts them back.

“I need like a size 8,” she says, scanning the pile.

Girardot is poor. She’s not homeless like some of the others picking out clothes around her, but she’s exactly the type of person who local nonprofit Dinosaurs & Roses is looking to help.

The organization, which also runs a community thrift store, put on its first clothing drive Friday on the driveway of Mt. Liberty Missionary Baptist Church downtown. They modeled it after the Street Store, a concept that began in South Africa and aims to be an “open source pop-up clothing swap” for the poor and homeless, according to its website.

Organizers collect clothing donations and arrange them by gender, type of clothing and size — like you’d find in a regular store. Shoppers are assigned a volunteer assistant who asks them what they are looking for and finds it for them. They go down each aisle, filling up a big black trashbag with items, before leaving with a bagel and some water.

“It’s a real sense of dignity for them,” said Michele Morgan-Devore, director of Dinosaurs & Roses. “Instead of going through the dumpster, they get to choose what they need.”

Girardot, who lives with her husband and son in an apartment on Fremont and 21st streets, brought home shoes, blouses and some pants. She walked the mile from home to Mesquite Avenue and 9th Street with a few friends. They all brought handcarts to get everything home easier.

Her husband is an ex-felon who can’t find work and she has a son in school. Without an income, she said she is forced to go out every day to scavenge for food and necessities. She gets money from Social Security, she said, but that’s it.

“I’m out here every day,” she said. “This just makes it a little easier.”

Morgan-Devore said the Street Store attracted more than 200 people in the first two hours of being open. The organization still had mountains of donated clothes left with just an hour to go, which she said she will put into storage for a later drive.

“I saw the need in this neighborhood and decided to bring it to Las Vegas,” she said. “It’s been such a peaceful event.”

Morgan-Devore said she is planning to do more Street Stores and is looking for more community donations.

If you’d like to donate to Dinosaurs & Roses, call 702-277-3752 to make arrangements.

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