Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth launches #pickupthetab
to feed homeless teens for the holidays
Online component of Plastic Food Drive to collect fast food, grocery store gift cards
Thanksgiving and Christmas can be unsettling and scary for homeless youth unable to be with family. While everyone else is enjoying a holiday feast, homeless teens are wondering when they will eat their next meal.
Smith’s Food & Drug Stores will match the first $1,000 donated in $25 gift cards purchased at Smith’s, or other grocery stores during the final week of Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth’s (NPHY) Plastic Food Drive for homeless youth.
Now in its eighth year, the drive will run through Tuesday, Nov. 25. A $5 Fast Food gift card provides one meal for a homeless teen; $10, two meals; and $25 at a grocery store provides meals for several days.
Gift cards or other donations can be delivered to the NPHY Drop-In Center, located at 4981 Shirley Street, south of Tropicana Ave. near UNLV, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
For more information about the NPHY Plastic Food Drive and the nonprofit, visit www.nphy.org/PFD or call 702-383-1332.
To make it easier for more than 9,000 Clark County homeless youth to get a hot meal during this time, the nonprofit Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) is launching its annual Plastic Food Drive and new companion #pickupthetab online component. Now in its eighth year, the drive recently began and will run through Tuesday, Nov. 25.
To meet its goal, Southern Nevada’s most comprehensive service provider for homeless teens seeks participation from community members and businesses – individually or through employee and/or customer drives – to buy $5 or $10 fast food or $25 grocery store gift cards.
“These gift cards mean no homeless youth has to go without a hot meal for the holidays, regardless of their living situation or access to a kitchen,” said Arash Ghafoori, NPHY executive director. “A $5 gift card provides one meal for a homeless teen; $10, two meals; and $25 at a grocery store provides meals for several days. With the growing number of homeless youth in Southern Nevada, the community’s support for the Plastic Food Drive is more important this year than ever before.”
There are a number of ways to get involved with the Plastic Food Drive:
- Purchase a $5 or $10 gift card from a fast food restaurant.
- Purchase a $25 gift card from a local grocery store.
- Donate online at https://www.nphy.org/donate
- Implement an employee or customer Plastic Food Drive by calling 702-383-1332 or visiting nphy.org/PFD for information or to get started.
- Participate in the #pickupthetab online donation campaign.
- Go to gofundme.com/nphypickupthetab to donate $5 or $10.
- Snap a picture of your lunch and post it on Facebook with the caption: “Did you know there are over 9,000 homeless youth in Clark County? I’m having this for lunch today, but many of these youth do not know where their next meal is coming from. I donated $__ to NPHY to #pickupthetab for the meal of a homeless youth. Now I challenge you to #pickupthetab at gofundme.com/nphypickupthetab. All funds raised will purchase food gift cards for homeless youth.”
- Tweet: “I’m helping end homeless teen hunger. Now I challenge you to #pickupthetab at gofundme.com/nphypickupthetab”
- Tag two friends and ask them to #pickupthetab for a homeless teen.
Gift cards or other donations can be delivered to the NPHY Drop-In Center, located at 4981 Shirley Street, south of Tropicana Ave. near UNLV, Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.
To honor the single largest donation received for Plastic Food Drive this year, NPHY will engrave a brick with the donor or company’s name and include it in a special recognition section at the expansion of the Drop-In Center currently under construction.
For more information about the NPHY Plastic Food Drive and the nonprofit, visit www.nphy.org/PFD or call 702-383-1332.
About The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth
The Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) is the most comprehensive service provider for more than 9,000 homeless youth in Southern Nevada, serving hundreds of youth through its core programs and by touching the lives of thousands more through outreach each year. NPHY’s programs stabilize homeless teens’ lives, meeting their immediate needs and providing a safe, supportive environment and a path to self-sufficiency. Programs include: Outreach, Safe Place Mobile Crisis Intervention, Operation Go Home Family Reunification, Drop-In Center, Emergency Shelter, and Independent Living Program. For information and to support NPHY’s critical work to get homeless youth off the streets, visit www.nphy.org or follow NPHY on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/nevadapartnershipforhomelessyouth.
