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Jonas Corona, with mother Renee, standing with a sock-drive donation box at New City School.

8:30am | Jonas Corona was helping the homeless on Skid Row when he was all of 4-years-old. But when he started noticing fellow children showing up in need of aid, he desired to take things to another level.

Thus was born Love in the Mirror, a nonprofit organization with an incredibly young CEO and a simple mission: "to inspire young people to make a difference through their volunteer commitment of providing needy and homeless youth basic necessities such as food, clothing and learning materials." The org has just begun its 3rd Annual Giving Tree Sock Drive -- just one of the various ways in which Love in the Mirror works to get basic childhood necessities (including toys, backpack, clothes, and toiletries) to kids whose life circumstances have left them wanting.

If you're trying to figure out how doing such a thing would even occur to a 6-year-old, your two most likely suspects would be parents and school. And in this case you'd be right on both counts.

Jonas's mother, Renee, was the daughter of a military man and thereby exposed to more of the world than most kids, including Saudi Arabia, where Renee got a close-up look at a lot of poverty. "So I was just more conscious [than most children] of people in need," she says. By high school donating her time to the needy was a regular activity. "My parents always taught us to give back; it's just always been around me."

Fast forward to 2005, when a grown-up Renee landed in Long Beach with a fledgling family of her own, including the toddling Jonas. Soon the little boy was school-aged, and Renee matriculated him into the New City School of Long Beach, a charter school that includes social justice in its curriculum -- a fitting complement to the values espoused in the Corona home.

"I think that's important to teach them, that it's not something coming just from our home," Renee says. "It's something we think is really important [in order] to grow as a person -- and to make sure [our children] know more than just our house and our little community, that there's a big world out there." 

Jonas cites that part of the curriculum (without using the word "curriculum") as an inspiration for Love in the Mirror. 

"There's this thing [here] called Peace & Human Rights Night; it's a show that we do before we have our winter break," Jonas explains. "And we learn about peace and all the human rights and stuff, like Martin Luther King [Jr.] and Harriet Tubman and, um, Cesar Chavez and stuff like that. And sometime they talk about the homeless and needy kids, and they are like, 'Be thankful [for] what you have, because other people have nothing'; and [that] if you throw something away that you don't need … it's sad for them, because you're throwing something away … that they could use. If you don't know how to use it, they might."

But it all started with a family trip to Skid Row.

"We were a little scared at first, because we didn't know what to expect," Renee says. "But once we got there, we felt really safe. Everyone's really nice and respectful. And [Jonas] loved it, because they had something he could do as a little kid: he would make hot chocolate or serve punch. … It wasn't just standing around and watching. We would go every month; it was the first Saturday of each month. And he liked going, so we just kept going. And he did it for a couple years, until…We never saw kids until the recession hit, and that's when he started wanting to do more."

Jonas recalls the moment of inspiration clearly: "One time when I was feeding [people] on Skid Row, I saw some kids and their families, and some kids without their families, and I had never seen kids … there. The first time I saw that, on the way back home I felt sad, and I asked my mom if I could have a organization to help those homeless and needy kids. And she said yes, and my mom made cards, a Website, and a lot of stuff."

And Jonas can tell you just as clearly why his charity has the name it does: "I like Michael Jackson, and there's this one song, 'Man in the Mirror,' and I [replaced] 'man' with 'love.' … And I made up something that goes with the name: Every child should look in the mirror and love themselves."

Love in the Mirror was founded Thanksgiving 2009 and kicked things off with an all-purpose drive, before diversifying into its various individual drives -- though donations are accepted in all categories all year 'round (except for cash, which the organization will take only after it obtains 501(c)(3) status, which is currently in process). 

And what made Jonas think to specifically solicit socks? "Because when I was feeding [people] on Skid Row, when it was winter it used to rain like every single time we went," he says. "We used to have a bunch of socks laying on the tables, and in like 10 minutes they were all gone, because they really need socks. And it was like, 'We need more socks!' So that's what made me decide on making a sock drive. Because we have it in the winter."

Renee says that New City School has been instrumental in helping Jonas spread word of his work, first to his classmates, then to older children at the school, and eventually to other school and even universities. "The whole community here's really supportive, and that really helps a lot," she says. "Part of his mission is to get other kids involved in volunteering and let them know they're not too young. … And they all want to help, just like he did when he was little." 

Then she looks down at Jonas and chuckles. "Or when he was younger. He's still little."

However little he may be, the boy's got big ambitions, such as his goal that this year's sock drive result in double the 1,500 pairs Love in the Mirror obtained and distributed last time around. "Then next year maybe I'll triple it!" he says.

Spoken like a true CEO. Except, you know, the good kind.

    I'm starting with the man in the mirror

    I'm asking him to change his ways

    And no message could have been any clearer:

    If you wanna make the world a better place,

    Take a look at yourself and then make a change

                                    -Michael Jackson

For more information on Love in the Mirror, including a full list of drop-off sites for socks (new pairs only, please) and other needs, visit www.loveinthemirror.org and on Facebook. The sock drive ends December 16.

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