Hi! My name is Kareem Joudi and I'm the founder of iCare
When I was a Sophomore in High School at MAST Academy in Key Biscayne, FL commuting on public transportation, I was struck by the appearance of a homeless man and the other commuters’ reaction to him. Firstly, his odor indicated lack of bathing for several days. The others moved several steps away from him due to his odor and appearance. Secondly, his skin was dirty with many open sores. This episode disturbed me as this human being was being avoided by others impacting his dignity and that his open sores were an invitation to disease. A couple of days later, I saw a family of limited means ride the train and it was clear that they lacked the necessary funds to maintain their cleanliness and outward appearance. These instances made me think, what could I do to help?
I started putting together Ziplock bags with hotel/travel size shampoo, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes that we had at home. I created a couple of them and started passing them out to people on the street, on the train, and on the way to school. Their reaction was overwhelmingly positive. It inspired me to solicit friends and family for more supplies. I founded iCare to take this individual, informal effort and expand it to a more organized and ongoing effort in order to serve domestic and international communities in need. With iCare our goal is to serve as many underserved communities as possible.
I consider the world my community. I have been involved with several organizations in the Middle East which work to address the needs of the growing refugee communities. Thousands of iCare packages have been distributed across the globe, from various cities in the USA to the Middle East and to the Dominican Republic.