Mina Wins $1 Million for SELAH!
Emmy-Nominated Sports Analyst Mina Kimes Donates Celebrity Jeopardy! Grand Prize to Neighborhood Homeless Coalition
In a nail-biting round of Final Jeopardy on May 15, 2026, SELAH supporter and Emmy-nominated Sports Analyst and writer Mina Kimes clinched Celebrity Jeopardy! Season 4 and selected SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition to receive the one million-dollar grand prize!
This gift is the largest donation in our organization’s history and will sustain and expand community-led, volunteer-powered programs relied on by approximately 1,500 unhoused neighbors each month in Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Atwater Village, and Hollywood.
We are so grateful to Mina for advocating for SELAH participants, volunteers, and programs once again. Her belief in SELAH’s mission and impact is a testament to the nearly 800 volunteers and hundreds of program partners who provide vital community infrastructure for neighbors experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity.
“As someone who lives in Los Angeles and loves it a great deal, I’m beyond thrilled to support SELAH, an organization whose local impact I’ve witnessed firsthand. The work that your volunteers do to support our unhoused neighbors is truly incredible—and speaks to the power of community-driven action, which is needed now more than ever.”
CREATING A COMMUNITY WHERE EVERY NEIGHBOR THRIVES
This generous gift arrives during a fractured moment in Los Angeles’s homelessness response. These funds allow us to deepen our commitment to our neighbors at a time when support systems are most fragmented, turning a moment of upheaval into an opportunity for community-led resilience. Although it alone cannot resolve shelter deficits or repair social bonds in our community, Mina’s gift amplifies the ongoing contributions SELAH gratefully receives and will help meet growing needs at a time when attendance at our drop-in programs has nearly doubled.
HOW THIS GIFT IMPACTS OUR WORK
The Celebrity Jeopardy! funds will be leveraged to:
Expand and enhance existing programming. Based on surveys and evidence of participants’ use and need, this includes:
More Special Services offerings like drivers licenses, notary services, and birth certificate assistance.
More Supportive Resources such as haircuts, veterinary care, bicycle repairs, medical care, and showers.
More core clothing and material aid supplies for hygiene kits and harm reductions kits.
Finance and maintain a vehicle(s) to transport unhoused neighbors, belongings, and vital supplies to and from drop-in programs. After several years of service, SELAH’s single Dodge Caravan (Care-avan) finally heaved her last load and headed for the rainbow offramp this March (RIP “Old Girl”!).
Establish and operate our newest program in Los Feliz. The site location and program day is being determined by current demonstrated need in Los Feliz.
Grow and continue the SELAH Assistance Fund, with the flexibility to cover more costs for more demonstrated needs of engaged participants.
Train, activate, support, and develop more volunteers to provide SELAH’s personal engagement with and advocacy for unhoused neighbors.
Support strategic coalition and implementation partners who work in collaboration to create a network of support for neighbors.
Enhance SELAH’s ability to track outcomes and impact and deliver on our promise of reliability at every program we operate.
Ensure staff pay and benefits are equitable and aligned with the cost of living in Los Angeles.
Improve storage facilities for program supplies.
Maintain SELAH’s operating infrastructure for years to come.
ABOUT SELAH
SELAH is a community-led response to homelessness and a coalition of neighbors doing vital work to care for each other. Nearly 800 volunteers mobilize in Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Atwater Village and Hollywood (the neighborhoods from which SELAH gets its name) to address immediate, basic needs and improve long-term conditions for vulnerable neighbors, alongside hundreds of program partners.
Through 5 to 7 weekly outreach and drop-in programs, SELAH offers participants meals, showers, clothing, connections to services, and recurring connections to a community and reliable social bonds. Unhoused and housing-insecure neighbors engage with SELAH’s programs more than 22,000 times each year to get individualized support with mail, housing/shelter resources, social services, and public benefits; material aid and amenities including hair cuts, hygiene and harm reduction kits, and bicycle repair; access medical and veterinary care; and support connecting with case management.
SELAH mobilizes an active community that prioritizes dignity, connection, and trust-building, and leads information and resource drives for participants, partners, and others in the sector.