Skid Row Doer : He Gives Poor the Shirt Off His Back

Unlike many graduating business majors these days, John Dillon felt there were more important things in life than making money. So with a little bit of cash, some community support and a lot of initiative, he’s giving away clothes to the homeless on Skid Row.

“There are a lot of other places giving out food and shelter to these people, but there’s a real need for just clothes,” said Dillon, 22. “It’s starting to get pretty cold out there and they need coats and blankets and shoes to stay warm.”

In the two weeks since he opened the Chrysalis Center at 302 East 5th St. (named for the stage in which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly) Dillon estimates that he’s given out more than 2,000 shirts, 2,000 pairs of pants, 600 coats and boxes full of socks to nearly 1,300 indigent men and women who have ventured into his shop.

“There are never enough shoes for these people,” he said. “They sleep on the streets at night but have to take their shoes off because their feet swell, and people steal them. I could give away 500 pairs of shoes in an hour. They’re like gold.”

Articles taken for granted elsewhere are valuable in downtown Los Angeles, but even giving away a shirt can be complicated. One tired-looking elderly man was searching the racks for a simple white shirt. “But look at this,” he lamented to Dillon, “It ain’t got buttons--it needs cuff links. I ain’t had cuff links for years.”

“Come back tomorrow, “ Dillon told him. “Maybe we’ll have some others.”

The operation is housed in a dingy former cafe, with peeling plaster walls, exposed water pipes and no heating of any kind because there’s no money to pay the electric bills. Dillon, a sandy-haired young man with bright blue eyes, was dressed in a Windbreaker, sweater and jeans as he greeted customers from behind a makeshift counter. He and occasional volunteers from area religious groups come in Monday through Saturday to pass out clothes from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Business was moving along briskly despite the rain last week as a steady stream of people--mostly men under 35, but also mothers with children--came in and rummaged through the rapidly dwindling supply of clothes arranged on racks and shelves. They approached hesitantly, as though unable to believe clothing was just being given away, but almost all left with pants or a shirt and a smile for Dillon.

“This is a very wonderful thing he’s doing; there’s so many people who need this,” said Lisa Mitchell, 44, who left with a box of clothes for her children and grandchildren.

Samuel Burney, 31, agreed with her. “There are a lot of homeless around here,” he said. “You can also get clothes at the mission, but not like this,” he added, pointing to the rack of men’s pants neatly sorted by size.

A native of Rockville, Md., an upper-middle-class suburb of Washington, Dillon came to Los Angeles six months ago with a bachelor’s degree in finance from Indiana University. His father is a marketing executive and his mother sells real estate, but rather than follow in their footsteps, he joined the Oakland-based Jesuit Volunteers, which places recent graduates in community service projects around the state.

“I’d always been involved in community service projects in college--I worked for the Red Cross and organized a swim team for inner-city youths in Washington one summer,” Dillon said. “I was thinking about the Peace Corps after I graduated, but my friends were all sure that I’d go off and start some project on my own. So here I am.”

After working several months at the nearby St. Vincent de Paul Men’s Center, which provides the destitute with showers, restrooms and a place to relax, Dillon became concerned with the clothing needs of the homeless.

Dillon said he got the idea for the Chrysalis Center a little more than a month ago. He began soliciting clothing and volunteers from religious and charity organizations, and with the help of friends, started renovating the space, which owner Sam Hung has allowed him to use rent-free for the first month.

“It’s running entirely on donations--the clothes, the rent, the utilities, everything,” Dillon said. He said he has no permanent financial support for himself or the center and cash flow is “a penny in, a penny out.” Although he is living with friends in a house on West 23rd Street right now, they too are volunteer workers in the area. “The mission came by the other day with some food for us because they said we were as poor as their clients,” Dillon said.

The consensus of volunteers and contributors to the project is that Dillon has taken on a very worthwhile task.

“Even if he just keeps a few people warm for a few days, he has still done a lot of good,” said Sister Jennie Lechtenberg, who works at Puente, a community service organization. “It’s an unusual person who will take the money he was going to use for a trip to Europe and instead open an office so he can give away clothes to the poor.”