Maili Higashiyama, 35, is a communications major at Citrus during the week and a hero to the homeless population of Los Angeles’ Skid Row on the weekends. She grew up in L.A. and has been taught to help those around her since her early childhood.
“My grandpa would always stop and feed people and it’s carried on, I’ve just never stopped.” Higashiyama said. “If you can’t help out your neighbor, really are you doing anything good in the world?”
With her grandfather’s influence, Maili Higashiyama and her mother, Jackie Higashiyama, 59, have been going out of their way to feed those in need for as long as they can remember.
About four years ago, Jackie Higashiyama met a woman named Shirley Raines, who shares Jackie and Maili’s passion for giving back. Raines, Higashiyama and a few other generous people they had encountered came together on the weekends to give back.
“When we started, there were only four of us,” Jackie Higashiyama said, “It was just sandwiches, then we started with showers and hair washing.”
What started with those four people has come to be known as Beauty 2 the Streetz, with an influx of volunteers, including Higashiyama, who bring food, hygiene and makeovers to Skid Row every Saturday.
“Being part of it just made sense—it made sense to come out, it made sense to be here,” Maili Higashiyama said. “We formed this core group, and then it branched out into what it is now and we’re able to do a lot more.”
Four years after the group began collaborating, Shirley Raines’ “beauty2thestreetz” Instagram page has over 35,000 followers, they feed over 300 people every weekend and their hair washing services have expanded to cuts and color.
Maili Higashiyama helps with both the food and the hair every week. She meets with the group on Tuesdays to plan meals they intend to provide that weekend, and who is preparing each part of it. Then, when they arrive at Skid Row on Saturdays, she lends herself to the hair chairs, providing makeovers to those lined up waiting for them.
“My daughter has always been doing hair and she loves to help out,” Jackie Higashiyama said. “As you can see, they need these haircuts, they need to get their hair washed. They just transform into these beautiful people—beautiful. And we have watched this.”
The simple feeling of a clean scalp can provide the relief needed for some people on Skid Row to feel comfortable in their skin again. Through what Maili Higashiyama sees as part of her weekly routine, she has been able to provide not only a meal, but a little boost of confidence to at least 300 people a week for the past four years.
“When you look at it in the whole grand scheme of things, it’s really an amazing thing that we get to do,” Higashiyama said.
