Give School Supplies To Needy College Students Through Upcoming Fundraiser
by James Coulter
A new spring semester is right around the corner. While this new semester may bring new opportunities for some college students, for others, especially those who are low income, it will bring yet another reason to have their pockets picked.
Many low-income college students have a hard time paying for their school supplies, let alone their tuition, room, and board, to the point where they either go without or purchase them on credit.
You can help make a difference in the lives of local struggling college students by donating school supplies and other important items through an upcoming fundraiser at the Haines City Library on Dec. 29.
Hosted by Face Off Inc., a local non-profit organization, this fundraiser will be collecting donations of basic school supplies such as toiletries, non-perishable food items, Bibles, and other assorted items. These donated items will then be packed into individual college care packages that will be distributed to local college-aged students who require them the most.
Aside from collecting donations, the fundraiser will also provide the opportunity for Face-Off Inc. representatives to share information about their organization and the opportunities they plan to provide to local college students.
Their intended goal that day will be to reach more than 50 college students, explained Portia White, Executive Director of Face-Off Inc.
Face Off Inc. is a local non-profit organization with the mission of facilitating the needs of young adults, especially college-aged students, ranging from ages 17 to 35.
“We aim to motive, uplift, transform, and empower them to not only heal themselves, but to positively change the lives of others through mentorship,” her website states.
White started her organization earlier this year, as she noticed that this particular demographic often goes overlooked, she said.
“I always see something for younger kids, but nothing for the teenagers and actual adults,” she said. “We want to locally motivate, transform, and empower them to reach their potential, to not let past circumstances and things they are going through currently stop them from being the person they feel they can be.”
Many low-income families often struggle to pay for the school supplies of their elementary or high school-aged children, even going so far as to fund them through credit.
MarketWatch reported: “Those who earn less than $25,000 per year are 10 times more likely than high-income parents to apply for a new credit card in order to save as little as 5% on school supplies, according to a new survey from the personal-finance website WalletHub.”
Low-income college students don’t have it any easier. Many of them often find themselves unable to afford rent, utilities, or even food during their college semester.
Nearly 36 percent of college students are unable to afford food, and between 36 to 46 percent are unable to afford living expenses, according to a survey by Temple University researchers and the Wisconsin HOPE Lab, as reported by the Washington Post.
“I can see the struggle of a college student trying to better themselves because it’s always hard and you cannot focus on your schoolwork because you are worrying about what you are going to eat and things like that,” she said. “So I am trying to put my hand in and do as much as possible.”
White hopes to provide such relief through the upcoming fundraiser at the Haines City Public Library. Her organization has future plans of working through the public school system to help provide mentoring services and motivational seminars to teenagers and young adults.
Though her organization is young, she has high hopes that it will grow, and with it, the lives of the struggling students she touches will likewise grow and prosper.
“What I have noticed…is that there is a lot of people who feel like they…don’t want others to know their actual situation, but my motivation is for them to know that it is okay to let others know that they are not okay,” she said. “We want to be able to reach out to different people in different areas and counties. I really want to impact them and help them out as much as possible.”
The Face Off Inc. Fundraiser will be hosted on Dec. 29 from 11am to 1pm at the Haines City Public Library, located at 111 N 6th St, Haines City, FL 33844.
For more information, visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/faceoffincorporated/, or their website at: https://www.faceoffinc.org/
