NMB Fire Department launches August 1-31 canned food drive in support of Sea Haven’s Combat Hunger Project to provide food to local homeless and at-risk high school and middle school students
In support of Sea Haven’s Combat Hunger Project,
which provides food to local homeless and at-risk high school and middle
school students, the North Myrtle Beach Fire Department will collect
canned and non-perishable food items August 1-31. People can drop off
food items at any of the City’s five fire stations.
During
the 2015-2016 school year Sea Haven’s Combat Hunger Project will
provide food and information materials to students at five local high
schools and two middle schools. The food and materials will be delivered
to the schools each Friday by Sea Haven staff and volunteers, and
school guidance counselors and other selected staff members will
distribute them in confidence to the students in need. Sea Haven has
been doing this since 2011.
Each of Sea Haven’s programs also offers an emergency food pantry for all youth accessing the program sites.
North
Myrtle Beach Firefighter/EMT Aaron Asbury, who manages the Fire
Department’s month-long food drive, said that the mission is a good one
for residents and visitors to become involved in.
“There
are many homeless and at-risk high school and middle school students
countywide and in the North Myrtle Beach area,” Asbury said. “School
programs can provide them with breakfast and lunch during the school
week but they are on their own on the weekends, and that is when
Sea
Haven’s Combat Hunger Project fills a crucial need. Without it, many of
these students will not have the opportunity to eat again until they
return to school on Monday.”
Some
of the students helped by the Combat Hunger Project are homeless and
others are members of low-income families that find it hard to access
food supplies. Some students also live in homes where others may consume
the little food there is, leaving the students to fend for themselves.
“If
we can all help to make sure these kids have food over the weekend,
they will be able to maintain the energy they need to stay focused in
school during the week,” Asbury added. “When they become adults they
will be equipped to move beyond the tough cycle they are caught in.”
Sea
Haven, Inc., located at 3892 Highway 9 in Little River, is a nonprofit
organization that provides emergency crisis services for area youth ages
13-21. Its mission is to “improve the overall well-being and safety of
homeless forgotten youth ages 13-21 by extending a helping hand to those
youth whose lives may be in disarray." Through positive intervention
Sea Haven promotes opportunities for growth, learning, and happiness
that might not be available in the experiences of such children. Sea
Haven’s efforts are supplementary to existing public sponsored programs.
For
more information about the North Myrtle Beach Fire Department’s food
drive for Combat Hunger, please contact Aaron Asbury at caasbury@nmb.us or call 843-280-5511.
For more information about Sea Haven, Inc., visit http://www.seahaveninc.com or contact Wendy Gore, Development Director, Sea Haven, Inc., 843-399-8519.
