Season of Giving: How Las Vegas Youth Are Serving Their Community
As we enter the season of giving, Shine City Project (SCP) volunteers are doing what they do best — serving their Las Vegas community in a variety of impactful ways. The group of young Unificationists spent the past several weeks initiating and contributing to different service projects benefiting those in need as they explore more opportunities to give back.
In September and October, the team volunteered at the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, a local homeless shelter that provides a number of community services. “Our volunteers helped out with the community dinner for all the guests,” said SCP Director, Jeffrey Silerio.
The group kept busy with an unexpectedly large turnout of people. “Our volunteers were put into positions and responsibilities that we have never tried before in order to keep the dinner service running smoothly,” said Silerio. “While some volunteers helped out with quickly distributing food trays to guests, others helped to count and keep track of the food trays by using a small, handheld clicker.”
Other preppers handed out condiments, refilled water pitchers, and removed empty food trays from tables. “With all of our hard work and effort, we were able to have a successful dinner service,” said Silerio, whose team also wiped down tables and chairs, and swept the dining hall. “It’s been a great experience volunteering at the [shelter],” he said.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of families across the nation become homeless, including more than 1.6 million children, according to federal data. November is National Youth Homeless Awareness Month, drawing more attention to the children who make up 60 percent of all people in homeless families. Many of SCP’s volunteer efforts cater to families in particular.
On Oct. 22, the group distributed food to individuals and families at a local middle school with help from “The Just One Project.” The giveaway, part of a series of pop-up mobile markets held at different schools and senior housing communities, helps offset food insecurity and hardship faced by some community members. “It takes just one person to make a difference in the lives of many people,” said one SCP member, “so a whole group of volunteers is unstoppable.”
SCP has been dedicated to cleaning up city streets and preserved areas as well. “We returned to the Springs Preserve for a service project outdoors,” noted Silerio. “We helped pick up litter on the trails of the preserve and focused on part of the Sloan Flood Channel, [which] was heavily littered with items such as plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and fountain drink cups.”
The group collected some 71 bags of trash, along with wooden pallets and an old, abandoned wagon. “It was great to see the transformation of the area from a place covered in trash to one with natural beauty,” said Silerio. SCP cleanups have also been held at the Duck Creek Trailhead at Wetlands Park, the Historic Westside neighborhood, Warm Springs Natural Area in Moapa, and along Las Vegas Boulevard and Windmill Lane.
The latest SCP partnership, providing hot meals with Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada on Nov. 5, marks a new avenue in which the group is expanding its presence and serving the community. “For these last two months of the year, we are finding a lot more ways to give back and express gratitude to others,” said Silerio.
You can learn more about the Shine City Project here.