Volunteers from the staff of LandSouth Construction and the Jacksonville’s Youth Crisis Center (YCC) gathered at the building company’s Southside headquarters July 27 to stuff 400 backpacks full of school supplies to give to students at the Youth Crisis Center before the school year began.
The backpacks were distributed among youth in YCC’s Outpatient Behavior Health, Residential Crisis Care, SNAP (Stop Now and Plan), and Family Link programs. The programs provide mental health therapy for caregivers and youth, short-term crisis care, skills-based family group sessions, and therapy services in schools, depending upon the youth’s situation.
Amy Vincent, from LandSouth, unloads backpacks to donate to Youth Crisis Center students.
Students from the Youth Crisis Center are among the homeless, runaway, ungovernable, or truant population, or may have parents and caregivers that are struggling with parenting issues. YCC was founded in 1974 as Florida’s first runaway program. Its emphasis is on care for youth who have been exposed to traumatic situations such as divorce, homelessness, relocation, bullying, loss of life and abuse. It provides a variety of services such as short-term residential crisis care, outpatient therapy, skills-based groups for children and their parents, and transitional living programming for young adults.
Supplies for the backpacks were provided by The Kids In Need Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that provides free school supplies nationally to students most in need, and were donated by LandSouth Construction, with the purpose of providing YCC students with the opportunity to learn the importance of giving back, as well as to prepare them for the school year and to encourage them to do their best to stay on track.
Volunteers from Jacksonville’s Youth Crisis Center and LandSouth Construction
