Mercer Co. Schools participate in Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week
“Adopt a Blessing Box” encourages students to help fight hunger.
PRINCETON, W. Va. (WVVA) -As we move deeper into the season of giving, schools in Mercer County are giving back to the community and could use your help as well.
To coincide with Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, students in Mercer County Schools and their ICARE program are working on projects to help the community. This is in partnership with Mercer County Coalition for Health Communities, part of Community Connections Incorporated (CCI). Students are helping to fill Blessing Boxes throughout the county with non-perishable foods and warm clothing like gloves, toboggans, and scarves. Later this week, they will be making no-sew blankets for those who may not have a warm place to sleep at night during the coldest months of the year. They are also participating in a coloring contest that raises awareness for the issues faced by the hungry and homeless in Mercer County. Organizers want this “Adopt a Box” campaign to help these people and especially the children in our area who juggle these issues while being a student.
“...We’ve seen a rise in homelessness in our community and there’s also a lot of food insecurities within Mercer County, and we’ve actually struggled here at CCI to keep our Blessing Boxes full...” says Candace Harless, director of the Mercer County Coalition for Health Communities, “...So having the schools’ help... help us fill that need is really, really cool.”
Alysha Crawford, ICARE facilitator, Mercer County Schools: “...We can’t expect students to show up to school and be ready to learn if they don’t know where they’re going to sleep at night or if they’re going to have a meal later on. So, as we work together, we pull in different resources and try to meet those basic needs.”
If you would like to donate items to the Blessing Boxes in Mercer County, simply drop off items at the Mercer County Schools central office or the Community Connections Incorporated office. Alternatively, Crawford says if you have students in the Mercer County School system, you can have them take the items to the schools.
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