As a 100% volunteer based organization, we always come across people who want to help someone but do not know where to start. At iPrevail, we continually get involved in community and church events to discover these needs and in turn inform and mobilize our volunteers to respond and follow through.
We had the privelege of joining River Run Church during a community service event and discovered a huge need in Bithlo. Since then we have connected with a few residents to deliver clothing and toy donations in an effort to build relationships and be involved in individualized long term support. In one of the events, we met Miss Rhoda, a resident who helps other residents, and she told us that most of the time her neighbors come to her for food and she has gladly given them her own food when she had any. Sadly, she does not always have enough to meet every need.
This week, we invited our community to join us in a Clothing and Food Drive . In 5 days, a simple post in neighborhood app NextDoor turned into 30 bags of used clothes and food donations! A friend and volunteer, Miss Jean then worked with other people who responded to the post, handpicking and sorting clothes and creating them into gift baskets for specific families and packing them in boxes for others in need. When the baskets were sorted, they were then transported by two teenagers who simply needed community service credits for school but turned out to be awesome helpers and future volunteers. Finally it was delivered to the families and Miss Rhoda. Throughout the whole process, friendships were made as neighbors met neighbors. It is amazing how easy it is to make an impact when we all work together to respond to a need!
Bithlo is an impoverished community 10 miles outside of Orlando, "the happiest place on earth", so one wouldn't expect a community deep in poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, and toxic water. A few years ago, a non profit charity, United Global Outreach led the way by building Transformation Village to help out the community. A lot of progress has been made but there is much work to be done. We invite you to join us as we continue to reach out and give the residents a helping hand. We want to continue collecting food donations for these families, and you can help by organizing a food drive at work or in your own neighborhood!
