Carson High students ramp up homeless drive for ‘Count Day’

With the annual nationwide homeless “Count Day” around the corner, two Carson High School seniors are conducting a homeless drive and have created a GoFundMe page for monetary donations to support the effort.

“Count Day” is when cities across the county conduct an annual point-in-time count of homeless individuals. The seniors are also accepting donations of hygiene products and clothing materials including winter items and other basics.

“I was impressed these young women felt the tug to give back, to put effort into helping others in simple ways which make a big difference,” said Diana Alonso, project mentor and Hispanic outreach coordinator for Partnership Carson City.

Christina Ibarra, 18, and Paulina Delgado, 17, have started raising funds on GoFundMe and drawn a steadily growing collection of donated items.

“We knew that every winter the churches around town help the less fortunate,” Delgado said, “and we wanted to be more involved by collecting warm and necessary things for them.”

GoFundMe donations (http://bit.ly/HelpingCarsonCityHomeless) will supply homeless individuals the day of the count with a gift card to a restaurant, such as McDonalds or Wendy’s, where they can get a warm meal.

Those interested in participating in the drive can also drop off local fast food gift cards of no more than $5, as well as clothing and hygiene items, to the Partnership Carson City offices, 1925 N. Carson St.

Ibarra and Delgado are members of Partnership’s high school youth advocacy club called Represent. The program at Carson High is dedicated to the prevention of suicide, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. The drive is the girls’ high school senior projects.

“‘Count Day’ is a chance to offer our community’s homeless population assistance by providing needed items and offering a meal,” said Samantha Szoyka, youth program coordinator for Partnership.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires the annual count event for community agencies to receive federal funds for homeless programs.

Contact Partnership Carson City at 775-841-4730 or info@pcccarson.org for information.