As the holiday season approaches, college students are finishing up final exams and packing up to return home. As for Lewis Gives, the holiday season is another opportunity to give to the less fortunate. Nicole Lewis, a senior at North Carolina A&T, founded Lewis Gives as a way to continue to impact the lives of the homeless throughout the school year.
Lewis Gives is a non-profit community service-based organization established in 2019. “This organization’s purpose is to provide mental, physical, and spiritual support to men and women in impoverished areas of Greensboro, North Carolina,” Lewis said. “We prioritize community service and ending homelessness.”
Lewis Gives has completed an array of service opportunities. One of these opportunities gained the organization a feature story on an evening airing of Spectrum News this past September. The organization participated in the annual “The Big Pick” event held at Guilford County farms where they picked muscadine grapes that were donated to less fortunate communities in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Since 2019, the organization has hosted a series of drives including an annual hygiene drive called “Hygiene for Him and Her” and a winter clothing drive called “Winter Warmup.” Donations from each drive were distributed safely to both local shelters and directly to the homeless population in Greensboro.
“These drives were chosen due to the time of year when items are at a higher demand, she said”. “Such as when winter is approaching before it actually gets freezing we start the drive in advance so when they need gloves they are already properly prepared for the weather change”, she added.
As protocols began to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic, donation rates among homeless shelters and help resource centers such as the Foothills Humane Society.
"Safety is our number one priority, we do not want to risk our members or others," said Lewis.
The hands-on organization takes precautionary measures to ensure they can continue to service the homeless.
“Whether it is a pandemic or not, many people of the Greensboro Triad region need our help and we will be there to assist any way we can as safely as possible," she added.
Lewis Gives distributes winter clothes prior to the holiday season and helps define the season of giving. The organization’s “Winter Warm Up” donation drive successfully collected over 1,500 articles of winter clothing.
“The Holidays for some people are very stressful and Lewis Gives loves to help out others as much as we can," she said. “We want people to enjoy their holiday and not have to worry about having enough warm clothes on their back."
Lewis Gives Continues to service the Greensboro and Triad Area with meaningful service. The Organization will be accepting new members and is gearing up for more service this upcoming semester.
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Madison Murray is a Senior Multimedia Journalism Student at North Carolina A&T State University. In love with the field of journalism, she is also a podcaster, media host, writer, and Editor In Chief covering entertainment and sports. Follow her latest works here on Instagram, and Linkedin.
