SHINE Club Helps Cambridge Families Facing Crises

MILTON, GA — In the Fall of 2018 two students Luci and Anna Allen at Cambridge High School started a new club called SHINE, or Students Helping Individuals in Need Everywhere. They started this club from idea they got from the previous school year. A family in the area had an unexpected house fire and lost everything. They thought it would be great if there was a club as school that could help students or families in the area when something like this occurred.

After a bit of research they saw that there were many different crisis that occurred around them that put students and their families in need for help from the community. They submitted their idea and got the SHINE club approved. SHINE assists students and families in the area who face unexpected crises, such as fires, medical crisis, flood, death of parent, relocation, unexpected foster care, or other situation that caused a crisis.

They were able to get others excited about the idea and built a leadership team and then were able to get many members to join SHINE. As word got around the club was asked to help in various situations. Last year the club sponsored three initiatives to help families in need. They helped a military family in the area that had relocated with very little possession. With the help of the community SHINE collected over 500 articles of clothing, toys, electronics, and a washer and dryer for this family of five. They had so many donations that they were able to help other families too.

At Christmas they held a gift card drive where they helped foster teens. In the spring they had their biggest drive of all the “Spring Break Food and Gift Card Drive” to help supply food and gift cards to students and their families in the local schools during spring break week when they were not in school. Again thanks to the generosity of local businesses and families they collected almost two thousand dollars in gift cards and enough good to feed 12 families in need! SHINE also helped the community by volunteering with NFCC and Foster Care Foundation.

Follow S.H.I.N.E. on Twitter or Instagram @ cambridge.shine to see ways you can support and help S.H.I.N.E. help the community this school year. If you are interested in starting a SHINE club at your school contact us at CHSshine@gmail.com.

Images via Cambridge High School