WKRN, Nashville, Tennessee News, Weather and Sports |Volunteers fill backpacks to be distributed to homeless teens

Volunteers fill backpacks to be distributed to homeless teens

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – On Thursday, volunteers spent time preparing backpacks at a non-profit organization that will be distributed to homeless children around the Nashville area.

One hundred backpacks were filled with necessities such as clothing, water, food, bus passes and hygiene items as part of the Oasis Street Outreach Backpack Program by members of Kappa Lambda Omega.

Volunteer and Kappa Lambda Omega President Theresa Campbell was among the volunteers preparing the backpacks.

"If you think about it, those teenagers are homeless.  They don't have those necessities that we have in our daily lives," she said.

According to Hal Cato is the center's CEO, the backpacks which will be distributed by trained staff and volunteers and serve multiple purposes when reaching out to homeless children and teens in the area.

"Most homeless kids have no reason to trust adults.  All they do is hurt them.  That backpack is almost like an olive branch.  We're just here to help you. No questions asked.  Just take this backpack and we're here if you need more," Cato explained.

Cato said the backpack program is among the growing programs offered through the center that focuses on helping children and teens deal with a variety of social challenges.

"We've tripled the amount of people we've served, but more importantly, I think we've gone deeper in ways we haven't been able to do 10-years ago in terms of working with middle school students before they got into crisis mode," he said.

For more information on the Oasis Center, visit their Web site.