VALDOSTA — Donning her custom-made “Community Changer” shirt, and despite the heat advisory for South Georgia, 12-year-old Kamari Jones initiated the first of an upcoming series of drives for the homeless community of Valdosta last Saturday.

Jones had spent the month creating hygiene care packages, which include soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, hair tools and more. She worked alongside her family, who helped her take donations from coworkers and community members in order to find the necessary items to make these packages.

“It started from her dad having food left over from Memorial Day weekend,” Vanessia Williams, Jones’s grandmother, said. “And she fixed plates to give out to the homeless.”

What started as a singular act of charity took a turn for Jones when she found a new struggle that Valdosta’s homeless population faces: hygiene.

“The next event was over at Azalea City Laundromat,” Williams said. “A young lady was going in the trash to get an empty jug of laundry detergent, and she had an old rag that had been left on the counter to wash. She saw it and was very solemn about it.” 

After weeks of planning and working — on top of school work and extracurricular activities — Jones brought everything to the green space near Hill Street Booze to distribute.

“People are out on the streets, it’s hot, they don’t have food or water,” Jones said. “Stuff’s expensive; houses, mortgages, rent… I just wanted to help them.”

With such a large task ahead of her, she didn’t do it alone; her family helped pass out packages, and helped her distribute around town before going to Lowndes Associated Ministries to People, or L.A.M.P. with the remaining packages.

“We’ve already been thinking about doing stuff like this, she just initiated it.” Zay Hill, Jones’s cousin and volunteer for the event, said.  “A lot of people don’t have the luxury of getting stuff because of their situation, they don’t have the luxury of getting clothes or shoes or stuff to get themselves clean.”

This is only the beginning; Jones said she plans to do distributions like this again, with a coat drive in October.