PROJECT 150

More than 6,000 high school students experiencing homelessness in Nevada are at risk and they need your help.

By / Jessica Kirby

High school is tough enough. The work, the routine, the social pressure—imagine weathering it all while wearing the same clothes for a month and having very little to eat and having no where to go after the final bell rings.

That is the plight of 3,300 registered homeless and 3,100 non-registered homeless, displaced, and disadvantaged high school students served by Project 150 in Nevada.

Project 150 aims to provide essentials, like food, clothing, support, and vocational information to teens experiencing homelessness, and the 2022 Partners in Progress Conference is your chance to make a difference.

“We are excited to once again support Project 150,” says Carol Duncan, SMACNA-SMART Best Practices Market Expansion Task Force co-chair. “It is rewarding to make a difference in homeless teenagers’ lives, so they know that someone cares and wants to support them to be successful.”

Through the partnership with Project 150, Partners in Progress attendees can purchase much needed supplies through the organization’s website, make cash donations, and volunteer to create care packages on site.

“In 2020, we put together 650 bags stuffed with breakfast and snack items,” Duncan says. “We also did an impromptu, on-the-spot fundraiser that challenged labor and management to outdoo each other. Through that effort, we raised almost $2,500. In addition, we raised another $3,000 online. I am a very competitive person, so I would like to beat last conference’s numbers in 2022.”

Duncan says having a community-focused charity event like Project 150 at the 2022 Partners in Progress Conference establishes an additional layer of relationship building.

“Bringing people together for a common community cause provides another opportunity to work together,” she says, and there are plenty of examples of that. For instance, in 2020, Sheet Metal and Roofing Contractors Association in Ohio and Local 24 each made a $500 donation to Project 150 as part of the Conference’s Strive to Succeed Challenge. Doug Mayse, president of SMRCA Ohio member Rieck Mechanical, donated another $500, when he was inspired by the partnership’s efforts.

“Building a connection to something larger than each of us helps to build a sense of higher purpose that we can bring to everything we do going forward,” Duncan says. “Participation also impacts our own perspectives, not only at that moment, but also what we take home in our hearts.”

Project 150 was founded in 2011 when a group of friends, including co-founders Patrick Spargur and Don Purdue discovered there were 150 students at a single high school in Las Vegas who were heading into the holiday season with little more than the clothes on their backs.

“These were kids who came home and their parents were gone or their homes foreclosed, and they had to make a very difficult decision—get a minimum wage job to pay for the basic essentials or participate in an education system that really wasn’t serving them,” Spargur says.

The friends decided to help. That first year, they rounded up four truckfuls of clothing, blankets, and school supplies and gave out $10,000 in gift cards so the students could eat over the holidays.

“We realized that we probably made ourselves feel good, but we didn’t really make in impact on the bigger issues,” Purdue says. “We decided to make a longer-term impact so we could help these kids get through high school.”

Today, Project 150 is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization with a number of strategic partnerships in the Nevada area. At one high school, it supplies food, gym uniforms. take-home meals, and clothing. Through a partnership with Project 150, HomeAid Southern Nevada raised $27,000 in three weeks to purchase nearly 500 backpacks for students in need.

“Information for Partners in Progress attendees is available on the conference charity webpage where they will find a donation link that will allow them to shop from Project 150’s wish list of greatest needs,” says Joye Blanscett, SMACNA National’s director of labor services and human resource management. “Visiting Project 150 in 2020 really reinforced that we have picked a great local charity to support with our conference. I hope you all agree and join me in encouraging our contractors to support this cause.”

Learn more at pinp.org/conferences/2022pinp/project-150 ▪ Jessica Kirby is a freelance editor and writer covering construction, architecture, travel, and sustainable living for myriad publications across Canada and the United States. She can usually be found among piles of paper in her home office or exploring nature’s bounty.

A list of current critical Project 150 needs are:

Food

4,000 cases of each of the food items listed are needed annually to meet the needs of homeless, displaced, and disadvantaged high school students in Las Vegas:

• Granola bars (cases of 60 individual bars, without nuts) • Oatmeal (cases of 52 individual packets) • Tuna & crackers or chicken & crackers (cases of 12 individual boxes) • Protein items (Vienna sausages, canned tuna/chicken, spam)

Hygiene Products

• Full size bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash, hairspray, and hair gel • Gender-specific deodorants

Clothing & Accessories: (male and female, all adult sizes)

• New t-shirts • New underwear • Hooded sweatshirts • Plus size clothing • New makeup • Bras • Wallets • Belts • Perfumes/colognes • Curling irons/blow dryers • NEW athletic shoes & dress shoes for men

Order items online at pinp.org/conferences/2022pinp/ project-150.