We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Archana Liggins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Archana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I have a servant’s heart and as an upcoming leader in the community, I wanted to work to build the community and support families in need. I was scared but determined to alleviate the burden of accessing personal care items in underserved communities. My new motto from that time on – DO IT SCARED! I founded BAG Lady Outreach non-profit (501c3) organization in January 2019 based on my belief that every underserved person deserves to have dignity through access to hygiene products. What started out as providing 38 “blessing bags” to those in need in honor of my 38th birthday, has grown to thousands of bags distributed internationally and locally. BAG Lady Outreach has made a great impact in the community since organizing in January 2019 because of my community-driven, passion for building social capital and my belief that everyone deserves to be treated with kindness and respect.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

BAG Lady Outreach was birthed in 2014 by Archana Liggins after being inspired by the outreach work she completed in her corporate role at a local food bank. Working with food pantries, soup kitchens and group homes in the counties within the southern region of northern Illinois, Archana noticed a huge demand for resources and began personal outreach efforts in the Chicagoland area and surrounding suburbs.

In addition to working in the industry for many years, Archana and her family, friends and volunteers are a regular volunteer group at a local soup kitchen. A servant at heart, Archana began organizing her own outreach initiatives, collecting books for the youth and gently used purses, bags, jewelry and accessories for those in need. Pretty soon her extended family, friends, and church members were inspired and began donating items and toiletries to contribute to her vision.

Archana has directly impacted the lives of thousands of individuals impacted by poverty, supplying them with purses/bags filled with basic necessities that many of us take for granted. In the Spring of 2019, BAG Lady Outreach officially became a nonprofit organization. Archana’s mantra is “If we know better… let’s do better.” She is committed to supporting underserved communities by providing resources for those in need while restoring their dignity and inspiring positive community impact by creating opportunities for people to donate and volunteer.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Research has shown that 1 in 3 low-income American families struggles to afford basic non-food household goods – including products related to personal care.

During the height of the COVID -19 Pandemic, we had to pivot as an organization due to the change in donations and distributions. With students in mind and due to schools adopting hybrid models. BAG Lady Outreach created toiletry lockers for students in need this initiative was the first of its kind for the organization and provided lockers filled with toiletry supplies that students can access if needed. Schools were providing lunch to students and BAG Lady Outreach was providing toiletry items. The locker locations were selected strategically to provide further assistance and resources to students who are observed to be in regular need of items.

Now that students have returned to school, BAG Lady Outreach Toiletry Lockers remain accessible. New opportunities can be made available upon request and approval by the school’s location.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bagladyoutreach.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bagladyoutreach/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BagLadyOutreach/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bag-lady-outreach/

Image Credits
Rosemint Media