Local nonprofit Friends in Service Helping, also known as FISH, has just been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation for their affordable student housing in Carson City.
The executive director of FISH, Jim Peckham, says they're putting this money towards the services they provide for students who are working to get a degree while living in their affordable housing units.
"We get these folks educated and into careers that are going to be making them $28 or more an hour, and then they can move on to more retail housing making room for people to come out of this affordable housing," he said.
You may remember our reporting when FISH first opened their student housing doors few months ago. They provide resources such as rental assistance and scholarships to ensure financial barriers don't interrupt educational pursuits.
"Instead of building more affordable housing we're trying to make fewer people rely on affordable housing," said Peckham.
FISH is also partnering with us for our 2 News Nevada Share Your Christmas event. They'll be asking the community to donate as much as possible since this is a very critical time of year for donations.
"Unfortunately, during the summer people are on vacation and don't think about food, so our food supplies dwindle," said Peckham. "And then come fall there' a huge need, helping people with Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, giving away turkeys, having large meals for the community."
FISH is also hosting their Empty Bowls event this week. The event aims to raise funds to tackle food insecurities within our community.
"People come and for a donation they get some soup from some of the local restaurants and get to go home with a ceramic bowl which reminds them that there are empty bowls in our community."
The event will happen this Friday from 4 to 8pm at the Carson Mall.
To learn more about the Empty Bowls event and purchase a ticket you can click here.
