Amazon donates $25,000 to build 10 tiny homes for Riverside homeless

In recognition of National Homeless Awareness month, Amazon is supporting Leadership Riverside’s “In Your Own Backyard Project: A Housing First Riverside Community Partnership” with a $25,000 contribution along with over ten pallets of household supplies donated by local fulfillment centers to the Mulberry Village housing project. The donation check was presented to the “Riverside Ending Homelessness Fund” at the announcement of the future site of these tiny homes.

Amazon General Manager Marianna Desai talks about Amazon’s support for the “In Your Own Backyard Project: A Housing First Riverside Community Partnership.”

“This donation is part of the company’s mission to support communities where our associates live and work, particularly through alleviating immediate needs like local housing and hunger insecurity,” said Amazon General Manager, Marianna Desai.

The Mulberry Street Cottage Masterplan depicts layout of the tiny home community, complete with community garden and picnic area.

Riverside County is home to four operating – and one upcoming – Amazon fulfillment centers where they proudly employ more than 7,500 full-time associates. The company has provided more than $2 million in monetary and in-kind donations locally to various organizations in the Inland Empire since 2012 and continues to drive more impact in critical areas like meeting basic needs and delivering STEM education in the region.

Leadership Riverside Class of 2019 spokesperson, Todd Ridgway, thanks Amazon for their $25,000 donation to the project.

“Amazon is known for delivering smiles and they sure did that today with their generous donation,” said Todd Ridgway, Leadership Riverside Class of 2019 spokesperson. “We recognize them as being a part of our community and what they are doing to help local children and families in need is just remarkable.”

Leadership Riverside and Amazon associates are all smiles with the large check donation.

The event marked only the beginning of what promises to be life-changing opportunities for the community’s homeless population. Leadership Riverside’s Class of 2019’s Mulberry Village project is an innovative way to tackle homelessness in the Inland Empire. Through a partnership with several local nonprofit organizations, the City of Riverside will build and manage a community of ten tiny homes and act as a hub for wraparound services addressing the distinct needs of the formerly-homeless Village residents. This new community will be a place for neighbors without homes to find safety, heal from trauma, and develop a plan to move themselves toward community connection and self-sufficiency.