40 volunteers assemble 1,600 backpacks of essential supplies

A one-of-a-kind charity called Holiday Heroes opened its latest chapter in Los Angeles, California to bring hope and happiness to the homeless during the 2016 Christmas season.

Over 40 volunteers met at the Hollywood mansion of Advanced Nutrients founder and CEO Michael "BigMike" Straumietis to assemble 1,100 backpacks for adults and 500 backpacks for children packed full of the essential hygiene supplies, living necessities and non-perishable food items to help the homeless.

After assembly, they hit the streets in small teams to deliver the backpacks. In addition, "BigMike" teamed up with the Volunteers of America who helped deliver the backpacks to the Los Angeles homeless community.

While this is the first time Holiday Heroes helped the disadvantaged in America, the charity was started 4 years ago when BigMike moved to Bulgaria to build research facilities and was shocked to see the hardships of the poverty-stricken people there. Instead of standing by and doing nothing, he started Holiday Heroes shortly before Christmas 2012.

That first Christmas movement fed over 1,000 families and they continued to grow and expand every year, eventually running Easter campaigns too. Last year, during Easter 2015 they fed 5,149 families and during Christmas 2015 they fed 5,183 families. This year, Holiday Heroes has fed over 30,000 people.

Straumietis, or "BigMike" as he's affectionately known in the industry, has been helping shape and grow the medicinal marijuana scene for the last 30 years.

BigMike handing out backpacks at a Family Shelter run by Volunteers of America in Los Angeles.

His company, Advanced Nutrients, is the largest privately owned hydroponics nutrients company in the world.

What sets Holiday Heroes apart is that there are no other fully transparent charities in Bulgaria where 100% of all donations go directly to feeding needy families. This is only made possible because Advanced Nutrients funds and handles all the administrative and marketing costs involved with this charity.

Holiday Heroes maintains an active, carefully managed and 100% transparent online presence via social media networks across the internet. Straumietis is now bringing the same level of transparency and direct-to-the-needy operations to America starting with this first campaign to help the LA homeless during Christmas 2016.

To learn more about Volunteers of America or to make a donation, please visit http://www.VOALA.org.