MANCHESTER, NH – The Walmart Foundation presented a $25,000 gift to Child and Family Services of NH to support the agency’s Youth Resource Center food pantry. The gift comes as part of Walmart Foundation’s national hunger relief initiative and will help to provide sustenance to hundreds of New Hampshire’s runaway, homeless, and at-risk youth.
Additionally, Walmart’s Raymond Distribution Center has dedicated a team of volunteers to the CFS Youth Resource Center, where they are currently helping to build an urban garden. This effort comes as part of Walmart’s VAP (Volunteerism Always Pays) initiative, which will culminate in 500 hours over a 12 month period, and qualify for an additional $5000 grant to the Agency.
A long-time supporter of Child and Family Services, Walmart has devoted the past six years to the Agency’s work with at-risk youth, granting over $132,000, more than 250,000 food items, and hundreds of hours of man-power to agency projects. Walmart is also represented on Child and Family Services’ Manchester advisory board.
“We are proud to support the outstanding services provided by Child and Family Services to so many young people in the Manchester community,” says Chris Buchanan, director of public affairs & state and local government relations for Walmart. “As a long-time supporter of both CFS and its Youth Resource Center, Walmart is thrilled to offer any help we can, both financially and through our employee volunteers, to do our part to help our neighbors in need.”
Each year, the CFS Street Outreach Program/Youth Resource Center serves as a lifeline and life changer to over 1500 local, at-risk youth, providing survival aid on the streets, fulfilling additional basic needs at the drop-in center, and offering a continuum of services that help youth toward safety, stability, self-sufficiency, and success. At the drop-in center, youth can access food, clothing, showers, laundry facilities, a computer lab, and get connected with community services such as shelter and medical care. As well, youth may receive counseling, substance abuse treatment, educational advocacy, vocational training, housing assistance, and more, to help change the trajectory of their lives.
“It is only through the generous support of organizations such as Walmart, that we can stay on the forefront of responding to human need,” says Borja Alvarez de Toledo, president/CEO of Child and Family Services. “Walmart’s unwavering commitment to NH citizens, and particularly to our most vulnerable youth, not only serves to redirect individual lives, but improves the outlook of our entire community.”
