- Welcome back, y'all.
I'm hanging out with Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Bonnie Raitt!
Give it up!
(audience cheers)
All week we are reliving the 1980s,
the decade in which I was born.
(audience cheers)
Greatest thing ever.
I'm about to be 40, y'all.
I'm so excited.
But instead of celebrating me,
I wanna celebrate causes that are near and dear to my heart.
Things that are very, very important to all of us.
One of those is supporting our unhoused community.
My kids are very into this.
I don't know if you're ever in LA,
it's a huge issue here.
And my kids,
I think when your kids see this,
it's just such a dramatic thing and it reminds you, like,
how much help people actually do need.
It's something my next guest does through art
and that makes her a "Good Neighbor".
(upbeat music)
♪ Good, good, so good ♪
♪ Good neighbor ♪
(audience claps)
(Kelly mouths the words)
- [Singer] So good.
(Kelly mouths the words)
So good.
- [Kelly] It's my favorite part.
Please welcome the founder of Piece by Piece,
Sophie Alpert, y'all!
(audience cheers)
So, meet Bonnie,
meet Da'Vine.
(audience claps)
So,
you use art
to help homeless people
and it's here in LA and it's called Piece by Piece.
So, can you explain to everybody how you do this?
- [Sophie] Yes.
So we create beautiful mosaic art.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And we do this
using discarded and broken pieces of tile,
glass,
china.
And we repurpose it into creating this beautiful mosaic art.
And, we do this for the underserved residents
of our communities who have experienced homelessness,
teaching them skills
and helping them earn some much-needed supplementary income.
- [Kelly] Mmm hmm.
- And also enabling them
to have an improved quality of life.
But most importantly,
our program provides hope and purpose
and a sense of community.
(audience claps)
- [Kelly] And that heals you.
Yeah.
Especially the last,
like, two years.
Like, everyone has felt so isolated.
Like, or even going through like a divorce,
like a painful thing like that that's traumatic,
it's like,
having that outlet is so important.
And so,
even if you're not a singer or a musician,
whatever,
like it's having some form of like, art
is so important in everyone's life, I feel like.
Do y'all agree?
- Absolutely.
- I think so, absolutely.
And that's why cooking took over, you know?
People were making bread and-
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- You know,
but I think a lot of people went back to learning crafts
and learning how to paint and play with pottery
so they wouldn't go crazy.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- What you're doing is so great, so great.
- [Da'Vine] It's amazing.
(audience cheers)
- [Kelly] It's so beautiful.
So I think I'm the only person on planet earth
that didn't learn how to make sourdough bread, by the way.
(Kelly laughs)
I think I still,
we didn't, yeah.
We need to get together and make some bread.
This art doesn't just help people heal emotionally,
just look at what one of the participants has to say.
(note swooshes)
(gentle music)
- I was able to get housed and earn some money.
Being able to come up with my first and last month's rent
and,
just be able to,
be able to buy decent food and,
choices that I could make when you have earned income
is something,
there's a certain pride attached to that, too.
(note swooshes)
(audience claps)
- She does that in kitchens.
That's what I'm going to tell her about.
- It's crazy to me that those things aren't just,
things that everyone has, you know?
You hear something like that and you're just like,
wow, just the basic necessities.
But,
how does it feel,
like, knowing that you're making
like, such a positive impact?
- Well,
I think one of the greatest gifts
you can give another human being
is helping them realize their own strengths.
- Yes.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Yeah.
(audience claps)
- And so,
you know, it's powerful providing hope.
The first year when we started
(Sophie sighs)
I'll never forget,
there was a mother of four
that sold enough pieces,
that she was able to buy a used car
and then go out and get a job.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- And, I'm really proud of one of our participants,
who was living in Skid Row facing many challenges,
and today, he's one of our most talented artists
and has become an assistant instructor and mentor
in our program.
(audience claps)
- Oh, that's great.
- That's awesome.
Wow.
Well, we love what Piece by Piece is all about
and how you're using art to change lives.
It's amazing.
So we're gonna give you $10,000 to keep it going.
- Oh, my god.
(audience cheers)
- [Kelly] Just to help out.
It's such a beautiful thing and it's so necessary.
Oh my gosh!
Absolutely!
Aww.
- [Sophie] Thank you.
- Absolutely.
It's so important
and you know,
just 'cause we were speaking earlier about education,
you know, our parents were educators.
Art is so important to keep in school.
- Have to.
(audience claps)
- Like, we all talk about mental health all the time
and how important and how people are struggling.
That is very helpful for mental health.
Any form of art, you know?
You don't have to be a singer for the rest,
you don't have to be a painter,
you don't have to be,
but just do something artistic.
It's so important for us, for it feeds your soul.