Passionate Women: Yong Strives to Raise Awareness About Homelessness

Sophomore Ashley Yong came rushing through the student center toward me. She was gasping for air and looked like she had been running around all day long. After talking to her for twenty minutes, even I felt overwhelmed with all her responsibilities. She’s managing the coursework from Mizzou’s journalism school, a huge list of activities and a non-profit organization. Her face lights up when talking about each one of them, and her passion for serving others shines.

“I want to live a selfless life,” Yong said. “That’s kind of uncommon in this age. I really want to be a model for other people to show that they can truly show empathy and still be happy themselves.”

She created her non-profit organization, Give A Box, when she was a senior in high school. Yong wasn’t pleased with the dialogue she had been hearing frequently about homeless people. She had heard all the stereotypical excuses. They all want money for alcohol. They’re addicted to drugs. They are just lazy. She knew that wasn’t true, and it propelled her to make a change.

“Growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I went to Chicago a lot with my family,” Yong said. “I was raised with my mom saying ‘Don’t talk to homeless people. Don’t make eye contact with them.’ I know she had good intentions for me, but I also know that’s a really dangerous narrative to have about homeless people.”

According to the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, an estimated 128,848 people were without homes during the 2014-15 school year. The CCH also estimated that 11,447 of those people are unaccompanied youths, aged 14 to 21, who are living without a parent or guardian.

“Many people think homeless people are in that situation because of themselves when, in reality, there can be a lot of family troubles,” Yong said. “They could be veterans that just don’t have the ability to work anymore. I just want people to see the homeless as humans, too.”

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors 2015 Hunger and Homelessness Survey, 33 percent of Chicago’s homeless population are severely mentally ill, 20 percent are victims of domestic violence and 19 percent are physically disabled. About 14 percent of the city’s homeless population have some form of employment and 7 percent are veterans. So, similar to what Yong explained, homeless people deal with circumstances unfamiliar to most people. 

“Every time I would step over a homeless person or avoid eye contact, it hurt,” Yong said. “I would hate to be treated that way.”

Yong had been saving money for her senior prom, but one day, an idea struck her. Instead of purchasing a dress and attending prom, she used the money that she had collected to make 20 boxes full of food, clothes and supplies for homeless people in Chicago. She ditched the dance to distribute the boxes.

“It was an amazing experience,” Yong said, “but when I was coming out of the city, I saw five or 10 more homeless people that I couldn’t help because I didn’t have any boxes left.”

She knew she needed to do more. After receiving encouragement from one of her friends, she created a GoFundMe and set the goal at $200. Now, she has collected over $6,000 from the page.

Her story blew up online. Ashton Kutcher and Nicki Minaj posted about it on Facebook. A PBS documentary called “What You Do Matters” and several morning shows contacted Yong, wanting to interview her.

“All of this crazy stuff just came together to give it a lot of traction, and that’s when I knew this was a huge blessing and I needed to turn it into something. That’s why I started Give A Box.”

Give A Box is a non-profit organization that packages and distributes boxes of food, clothes and supplies to homeless people around the country. Currently, Yong organizes distributions in Chicago and Columbia, but others inspired by Yong’s organization have carried out similar distributions across the country. So far, Yong has paired with students, service fraternities, families, volunteers and youth groups to distribute 436 boxes. She sets up distributions with these groups in hopes that once she leaves, they will continue to collect and distribute boxes on their own.

“We are trying to counter ‘slacktivist’ culture, or ‘slacker activism,’” Yong said, “so like changing your profile picture with a filter. It’s great when people do those things because it spreads awareness, but that shouldn’t be the only thing we do.”

Yong wanted a hands-on organization that connected with the people they were helping.

“When you look a homeless person in the eye and truly take the time to talk to them, it can really change how you see yourself and how you see the world,” Yong said.

Despite her long list of Mizzou activities, Yong does everything from running the website and social media to traveling back and forth from Columbia to Chicago to organize distributions. She’s the creative director for MUTV, spirit director for the Student Unions Programming Board, part of the Asian American Association and the Asian Christian Fellowship. The list goes on.

Through her organization, Yong has given a lot to others, but she has also gained wonderful, priceless memories.

“My favorite time was when I gave three boxes to these two young boys and their grandma,” Yong said. “I remember just getting in the car and bawling. I told my dad I couldn’t believe how blessed we are and how we don’t have to think about toothbrushes and toothpaste because they just show up in our grocery cart. It all just hit me.” 

When she’s stressed about college and doesn’t want to do a distribution because she feels overwhelmed, she remembers that moment.

In the future, Yong would like to organize a team, but right now, she will continue to balance her schoolwork and activities with her non-profit. Her goal is to inspire others to start doing things on their own. For college students wanting to help, she suggests picking up a few extra things at the grocery store for a homeless person or even packing a box and leaving it in the car for a future time.

“One great thing a lot of Mizzou students have been doing is buying stuff at Time Out and Emporium when they have extra swipes left over at the end of the semester,” Yong said. “That actually provided a lot of the food for our most recent distribution. Any way people can help is awesome.”

On April 13, Yong gave a TEDx talk in the Missouri Theater about philanthropy in an age of global connectivity. Though millennials are sometimes described as selfish or accused of posting things on social media for attention, Yong disagrees. 

“A lot of my success has been founded on just getting the word out there, so my TEDx talk focused on how we can change that narrative and how millennials have revolutionized giving and altruism.”

According to Yong, she felt incredibly nervous speaking, but said that she wasn’t getting up there for herself, but to “spread the message of love and empathetic giving.”

We finished up our interview, and she walked briskly away to attend her next appointment. I’d never met a human that was able to successfully juggle so many responsibilities at one time. There’s a chance she’s Superwoman.    

• activism
• feminism
• service