To spread some Halloween spirit, this October we volunteered with Quantum House. They are an organization that houses children currently undergoing medical treatment in Palm Beach County. Located next to St. Mary's Medical Center, they provide shelter, care, and resources needed to support the recovery process for the many families they have worked with. 

Along with our volunteers, we hosted an arts and crafts session for the kids residing at Quantum House. Together, we made pipe-cleaner spider headbands, paper spiderwebs, paper bat rings, and other crafts to get the kids in a spooky mood! It was great being able to help out, and everyone had something to take with them at the end of the session!

(8/28/23)

​In celebration of February being a month dedicated to love, we participated in Friends of Foster Children of Palm Beach County's Tokens of Love project! We gathered and assembled goodie bags filled with handwritten notes, candy, and toys to be donated to foster children this Valentine's Day. In total we were able to put together 64 bags! 

We worked with Friends of Foster Children of Palm Beach County previously for our clothes drive and it was a pleasure being able to collaborate with them again. It was a lot of fun putting together these gifts and we hope the kids enjoy these treats! Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day this year.

(02/10/2023)

This September, we hosted our second annual Hunger Action Month volunteer session at Feeding Palm Beach County. We have worked with Feeding South Florida numerous times in the past inspecting, sorting, and packaging food and household items to be donated to families in need across the state.

Hunger Action Month aims to shine a light on the nationwide hunger crisis by initiating a variety of events that everybody can participate in. Feeding Palm Beach County is one of 200 branches of Feeding America that will distribute food and resources to hungry families of South Florida.

Thank you to the volunteers that participated in this project and thank you to Feeding South Florida for giving us the opportunity to help out once again. 

​(9/10/22)

For our Sharing Closets project, we collected gently used clothing articles to donate to Friends of Foster Children of Palm Beach County, a nonprofit organization that provides services and supports those affected by the foster care system. In total, we collected 860 items of clothing which weighed 360 pounds! This is equivalent to nine bags of clothing. 

Oftentimes, only a small percentage of funding goes towards providing foster children with new clothing. Kids are also not able to take much with them when they move. Therefore, it is important that all kids have access to resources such as clothing that allow them to feel comfortable, especially as the school year approaches. 

Thank you to everyone that donated and thank you to Friends of Foster Children of Palm Beach County for giving us the opportunity to help out those in the foster care system. We hope that each person enjoys wearing the clothes that were donate!

(6/15/22 - 7/26/22)

In honor of Earth Day this year, we wanted to try eating vegetarian meals for a week and encouraging others to do the same! Vegetarian and vegan lifestyles have been shown to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, helping to slow global climate change. 

Since switching diets entirely can be difficult, it helps to go meatless even just for days or a week at a time. That's why we wanted to give vegetarian meals a try during this year's Earth Day. Thank you to everyone who participated with us!

Along with considering your diet, reducing your usage of single-use plastics, educating yourself and others around you about climate action, and contacting local representatives regarding their environmental policies are all ways that we as individuals can be involved in the climate movement. Slowing climate change can feel largely out of our control, however, if we take the time to evaluate our own actions, we can all play a part in protecting our Earth, no matter how big or small. 

(4/18/22 - 4/22/22)

To continue our climate change initiative, we hosted a mangrove cleanup in the month of March. Florida is home to an estimated 469,000 acres of mangrove forests (Florida Department of Environmental Protection). Mangroves are vital to our ecosystem because of their many beneficial functions. They protect shorelines, prevent erosion, and filter water, to name a few reasons. Thus, it is important to keep mangroves free of trash and litter so that they continue to maintain stable conditions in our environment.

Together with a group of volunteers, we cleaned a cluster of mangrove trees. We found styrofoam, plastic bags, and bottles amongst other things tangled in the roots of the mangroves. In total, we gathered about six garbage bags worth of trash during our cleanup. 

Thank you to everyone that came out and helped us! We look forward to similar projects in the future.

(3/13/22)

To kick off 2022 and our Climate Change based projects, we hosted our first independent beach cleanups at Municipal Beach! We believe that every contribution towards ridding the ocean of litter can make a huge impact, especially when it comes to protecting marine wildlife. 

While scouring the sands, we encountered a variety of plastics, food containers, and bottles amongst other things. Knowing that these items could have ended up at the ocean floor - affecting the health and quality of the marine environment - it is increasingly important to us to continue conservation and cleanup efforts. 

Thank you to everyone that came out to volunteer with us! We'll be back soon with another project.

(1/16/22 - 1/23/22)

For this month's project we volunteered with Toys for Tots, a nonprofit foundation that collects and delivers toys to less fortunate children across the country for Christmas. Since the holidays are the season for giving, we thought we would play a part in spreading some holiday cheer! Together with our volunteers, we counted, sorted, and packaged toys that will later be gifted to boys and girls in the area. 

We had a fun time helping out Toys for Tots and will hopefully be working with them again in the future. Thank you to those at Toys for Tots for giving us this opportunity. Although we were limited because of COVID-19, we still appreciate those who signed up and we thank those that came out to volunteer with us! If you would like to learn more about them or how to donate your gently used toys, please visit their website at toysfortots.org.

(12/11/21) 

​November's activities were a continuation of last year's Giving November project. In honor of it being the month of gratitude, we inspected, sorted, and packaged food to be donated to families in need. As Thanksgiving approaches it becomes increasingly important that every family has food on their table. We hope that our three visits to Feeding Palm Beach County this month helps to achieve that goal. 

As always, thank you to Feeding South Florida and Feeding America for giving us this opportunity to help others, and thank you to all 19 volunteers that came out to support this project! We hope that everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

​(11/6/21 - 11/20/21)

Our Halloween Book Drive aimed to collect gently-used books across the community including from schools, Starbucks locations, and family and friends in order to donate them to the Palm Beach County Library System. In total, we donated 625 books to the Royal Palm Beach Branch, the Greenacres Branch, the Okeechobee Branch, the Gardens Branch, the Main Branch, and the Mandel Public Library. 

We decided to host this book drive in honor of National Book Month which is celebrated every October and recognizes a widespread love of reading and books. 

Thank you to everyone that donated books, your generosity is highly appreciated! It was a trip down memory lane to sort through some of our childhood books. We hope that these books find their way into the hands of future book-lovers!

(10/1/21 - 10/30/21)

The goal of our Hunger Action Month project was to gather volunteers to inspect and package food at Feeding Palm Beach County, one of 200 branches of Feeding America. The food that we sorted would be distributed to families in need here in South Florida. 

Hunger Action Month is meant to bring awareness to the issue of hunger and encourage action to combat this problem. This issue has become more severe due to the pandemic, so it is important that we work hard to make sure that meals are available to as many people as possible.

We volunteered at Feeding Palm Beach County previously for our Giving November project and we were glad to be able to work with them again! It was a valuable experience that taught us about a problem that affects thousands of families in Florida, and millions more across the country. Thank you to those who volunteered with us, and to Feeding Palm Beach County for giving us this opportunity.

(9/11/21)

The goal of our April beach cleanups was to help rid Juno Beach of litter by volunteering with the Blue Friend's Society program at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. For three weekend sessions, we took a group of volunteers to scour the beach for any trash. We volunteered for a total of 56 hours between everyone who signed up with us.

We also had the opportunity to visit the Loggerhead Marinelife Center and learn a little more about ocean and sea turtle conservation. Sea turtles and other sea animals can mistake litter for food, which may cause them to have digestive issues. Thus, it is important that we keep our shores clean in order to prevent harm to the environment.

We had a great time cleaning the beach in honor of Earth Month and are looking forward to doing it again in the future. Thank you to those that volunteered with us, and thank you to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center for providing us with equipment! 

(4/3/21 - 4/24/21) 

Giving November's goal was to gather a group of volunteers to donate time at Feeding Palm Beach County located in Boynton Beach, Florida where food is inspected, sorted, and packaged to be sent out to those in need. As a whole, we volunteered 54 hours there after three visits,

We chose this project for the month of November because we know that 2020 has been a difficult year, and many would be without food for Thanksgiving. Feeding Palm Beach County, a branch of Feeding America, has taught us the importance of valuing our food.

Thank you to Feeding Palm Beach County for allowing us to lend a hand. We are glad to have learned about the food inspecting process an that we could be apart of it.

(11/14/20 - 11/25/20)

Project Sock and Roll's goal was to pool together funds in order to purchase socks for the local homeless community. We were able to raise $300 through GoFundMe after one month and bought 480 pairs (240 Women's and 240 Men's) to donated to The Lewis Center Homeless Coalition in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Sanjana has been collecting socks for a while - since middle school to be exact. Thus, we chose this as our first project because we wanted to give back to the community in our own personal way.

Thank you to the Homeless Coalition for taking the socks, the Vicker's House for connecting us, and Jennifer Ferriol - Director of Housing and Community Development, City of WPB, for your support. Also, a big thank you to everyone who donated.

We learned a lot about the need for supplied in the homeless community and we are glad we could make a contribution.

​(6/12/20 - 8/19/20)