Walls of Love
After her own first-hand experience with homelessness, Holly Jackson, founder and creator of Walls of Love, understood the struggle of not being able to get essential items that one may need. Walls of Love are pop-up walls that provide items such as hygienic products, non-perishable foods, school supplies and winter apparel which are hooked on a chain-link fence for those in need.
Holly mentioned she started the organization in order to help those who truly needed it.
“Specifically in the beginning, it was mainly for homeless people because at one point in time in my life I was homeless. I left a domestic violence situation when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. But now throughout the pandemic, lots of people have needed help, so we don’t discriminate. It’s for anyone in need.”
The organization has been around since November of 2018. Since that time, they have been able to help numerous people in many states.
“We have done 995 walls in 20 states, and we have helped over 300,000 people,” Holly mentioned and she has a goal of being in all fifty states by the end of next year.
Walls of Love doesn’t run on a paying scale. Instead, it is from the hard work of volunteers who want to help their communities. Holly herself works 90 to 100 hours every week in conjunction with her full-time employment. She does it because she enjoys helping people.
“I love it, though. I love helping people.”
The idea for Walls of Love came from the blessing bags Holly used to give to homeless people out of her car. She noticed specific items were getting used and others were not.
“A lot of things were not being used, so we ended up breaking it down into smaller things, very specific things, so people could just take what they need.”
Donations are appreciated and go into the community 100 percent of the time. They accept various ways in which you can give, including CashApp, Venmo, Facebook Pay, Paypal or their website, wallsoflove.com. If you see a need in your area, you can also nominate Walls of Love to come to your location and put up a wall. Holly shares what Walls Of Love is doing through social media and on their website, so you will know what your money is doing.
“I post a lot of pictures. I’m very transparent because I want people to see what we are doing. I want them to see their monies or their donations in action. That’s important to me,” Holly said.
There are a lot of homeless who are actually veterans. Holly said it’s not just drug addicts or bad people. Women, children and men of all kinds have needs that Walls of Love provide for. She said she has even had someone share that getting the things they needed was a deciding factor in whether they would commit suicide.
“To have somebody tell you that they really wanted to end their life over something that the rest of us think is petty or is not important, and to know something that simple made someone not want to harm themselves… it just melts my heart.”
If you would like to donate or volunteer, please visit wallsoflove.com.
Mary Jones is a freelance journalist from Ohio. She writes for the Dallas Express and the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.
