A gaggle of children strolled as much as the second ground to a convention room on the Florida Keys Youngsters’s Shelter on Feb. 18. Not solely did they discover some tasty soda drinks awaiting them courtesy of Coca-Cola Drinks Florida, however they had been additionally delighted to see a desk with new laptops for his or her use.
“Hopefully you get to make use of them not just for college but in addition leisure functions,” kids’s shelter CEO Ben Kemmer informed the children as they took a seat.
Coca-Cola is the fourth-largest black-owned enterprise within the U.S. To acknowledge Black Historical past Month in February, Coke Florida collaborated with neighborhood organizations to offer greater than 300 laptops to college students and neighborhood members. Ten of these laptops had been offered to the Florida Keys Youngsters’s Shelter.
With a neighborhood workplace on Huge Pine Key, Coke Florida initially reached out to Monroe County Commissioner Holly Raschein concerning neighborhood organizations in want of technological sources. Raschein was fast to say the kids’s shelter positioned on Plantation Key in Islamorada.
“I used to be actually excited when Coke Florida reached out to me for enter. I’m delighted this partnership labored out,” Raschein stated.
A 19-bed house for youths ages 10 to 18, the shelter offers a protected place for native youth and youths. As Coke Florida representatives noticed throughout a tour, the shelter is extra like a dormitory the place children can go outdoors and play basketball or keep inside and watch some films or video video games. There are additionally spots to take a seat and do homework.
The shelter contains a full-time counselor and a full-time chef. Rooms are artfully embellished due to the likes of Wyland, Pasta Pantaleo and Stacie Krupa. One wall within the corridor depicts a Keys bridge outlooking the ocean. Among the many autos on the highway is a Coca-Cola truck.
Whether or not children keep a day or a number of years, the shelter offers a house with caring individuals who hear.
Upon grabbing an ice-cold Coca-Cola product, the children took seats and proceeded to their favourite web sites, like Tik Tok. Coke Florida representatives took a couple of minutes to quiz the children about Coca-Cola; one query had college students wanting up what number of drinks are within the Coca-Cola Firm. One pupil discovered the reply to be greater than 3,500 drinks, from sodas and juices to water, coffees and teas.
Percy L. Wells II, spokesman for Coke Florida, stated initiatives such because the laptop computer donations are serving to individuals and communities attain their full potential.
“Whether or not it’s by means of the creation of latest studying alternatives for an elementary college pupil or serving to an grownup of their job search, Coke Florida has stepped in to assist foster these alternatives,” he stated.