{"id":552406,"date":"2026-01-29T21:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/552406\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T21:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T21:10:09","slug":"shirley-raines-homeless-advocate-and-nonprofit-founder-dies-at-58","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/552406\/","title":{"rendered":"Shirley Raines, homeless advocate and nonprofit founder, dies at 58"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shirley Raines, a Compton woman who dedicated her life to providing for homeless people and founded the nonprofit Beauty 2 the Streetz, has died, her organization announced. She was 58.<\/p>\n

\u201cMs. Shirley dedicated her life to serving others and made an immeasurable impact on homeless communities throughout Los Angeles and Nevada,\u201d a message posted to Raines\u2019 X account <\/a>on Wednesday read. \u201cThrough her tireless advocacy, deep compassion, and unwavering commitment, she used her powerful media platform to amplify the voices of those in need and to bring dignity, resources, and hope to some of the most undeserved populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

For years, Raines\u2019 organization has served people experiencing homelessness across the region, providing them services such as hair coloring, makeup and mobile showers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the group handed out face masks, hand sanitizer, vitamins and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to see a friendly face,\u201d she told The Times in 2020. \u201cThey need to know they\u2019re not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raines was born in Compton on Dec. 29, 1967. She had six children and four grandchildren and lived in Long Beach. In 2021, CNN named her \u201cHero of the Year\u201d for her work helping people on Skid Row.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis surely hasn\u2019t been easy. I stand before you a very broken woman,\u201d Raines said in her award speech. \u201cI am a mother without a son and there are a lot of people in the streets without a mother \u2014 and I feel like it\u2019s a fair exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rashawn Williams, Raines\u2019 34-year-old daughter, volunteered with her mother to help the homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe loved to help people,\u201d she said. \u201cShe loved everyone. She\u2019s a beautiful soul and she just carried so much. She really loved my baby brother who passed away. I\u2019m just so happy for her that she gets to be with him. It\u2019s bittersweet.\u201d <\/p>\n

She said that Beauty 2 the Streetz would continue offering services and that the board will determine who will lead the nonprofit next. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will carry this on for generations,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not over. I want her community to know that they helped her so much. They helped her find herself.\u201d <\/p>\n

Raines died in her sleep in Las Vegas, her daughter said. Her cause of death has not yet been announced.<\/p>\n

Raines was \u201cself-taught\u201d in makeup and beauty, her daughter added.<\/p>\n

Yuri Williams is the founder of A Future Superhero and Friends, a nonprofit that provides services to homeless people, veterans, the elderly and the disabled in Los Angeles. Williams first met Raines in 2017. <\/p>\n

The two bonded over recent family tragedies. Raines\u2019 son had passed away and Williams lost his mother to cancer. <\/p>\n

Williams brought Raines to downtown Los Angeles, and the two began volunteering together on the street with Paul Avila, the founder of Pauly\u2019s Project<\/a>, another nonprofit that serves Skid Row\u2019s homeless population. Avila died last year. <\/p>\n

Williams said that one day after they went out with Avila, Raines started crying. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe said that Paul has the radios that he gives out and you have the costumes and you\u2019re making people laugh, but I don\u2019t have anything,\u201d Williams said. <\/p>\n

Williams pointed out that Raines was doing people\u2019s makeup, washing their hair and providing other beauty services. He told her that she was bringing beauty to the streets, and that\u2019s how her nonprofit got its name. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe reminded me of my mom because she\u2019s a loving mother, but she would not change who she was,\u201d Williams said. \u201cShe was loud. We would fight and make up like brother and sister would.\u201d <\/p>\n

The last time Williams saw Raines was at Avila\u2019s funeral\u2019s last year. He said that Raines had apologized for not keeping in touch as much recently. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy that I got to lead her onto this path that she\u2019s on,\u201d Williams said. \u201cShe left a big impact on this world.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cShe wanted to give that strength back to women, that dignity,\u201d said Catherine Butler, Avila\u2019s older sister. \u201cShe was out there, with her bubbly personality. She took that to Beauty 2 the Streetz.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shirley Raines, a Compton woman who dedicated her life to providing for homeless people and founded the nonprofit…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":552407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,242215,242211,242216,2252,2444,46439,242217,242212,242210,242214,12632,6228,242209,242213,67,132,68,50318],"class_list":{"0":"post-552406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-hair-color","10":"tag-homeless-advocate","11":"tag-homeless-community","12":"tag-life","13":"tag-los-angeles-times","14":"tag-makeup","15":"tag-mobile-shower","16":"tag-ms-shirley","17":"tag-nonprofit-beauty","18":"tag-nonprofit-founder","19":"tag-organization","20":"tag-service","21":"tag-shirley-raines","22":"tag-streetz","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-x-account"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115980443869709048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}