LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — As temperatures begin to heat up in Nevada, organizations in the valley are partnering together to help a vulnerable part of the population.
On Saturday, volunteers with the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Commercial Alliance Las Vegas met at the NPHY’s drop-in center on Shirley Street to pack summer readiness kits.
“They have sunscreen in them. They have umbrellas, evaporative towels,” Arash Ghafoori, CEO of the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, said. “All these things we don’t think about because we can access cool environments.”
Volunteers have been working for months to collect the extra supplies and funds for summer because those months are typically harder on homeless youth.
“They’re going to be getting out of school. They’re going to have less safe, cool environments to be in,” Ghafoori explained.
Hygiene and food kits were also put together for the homeless youth. Saturday’s gathering to pack bags was only the first part of the initiative. Part two takes place on Friday, April 25th, at the Hollywood Recreation Center, where kits will be distributed to 500 youth facing homelessness.
“The state of Nevada has historically had one of the worst incidences of youth homelessness in the country,” Ghafoori said. “On any given night, there’s at least four to five hundred youth on the streets. In the Clark County school districts, there’s at least 14,000 homeless youth, if not more.”
