Portfolio - 16 TONS and 34 Truckloads

16 TONS and 34 Truckloads is how much weight in trash and how many truckloads it took to haul it away by Care Closet LBC, who removed the mess from a home in Long Beach that had been taken over by squatters. The city of Long Beach had so many calls from neighbors about this trash infested home with waist high junk in the backyard, and had caught on fire twice, that they had to do something. This is where Care Closet LBC comes in. A non-profit organization in Long Beach, run by residents of Long Beach with volunteers who are homeless or live in shelters in Long Beach, Care Closet LBC is a full circle program designed to help get homeless off the streets by allowing anyone who wants to volunteer to clean up messes in the city to earn gift cards of money.  Hard workers earn the chance to get hired by the city of Long Beach and make positive steps towards self-sufficiency and a better life. This photo essay is just one story of a clean-up job about Care Closet LBC. They do so much more from deliver truckloads of food to local food banks, give sleeping bags to those who need them and help supply clothes to those without. This is the beginning of one story with more stories of this amazing nonprofit and the people who volunteer there, to come.  I plan to continue documenting the success of this organization and hope to document the successful transition of one of the homeless volunteers into the workforce to start a new life off the streets. My final photo shows fresh fruit that came from a tree that survived growing in horrid conditions and a fire to still be able to grow new fruit, so to can a person rise from homelessness and bloom into a brand new  life with great hope and a new beginning.