Small charity donates to homeless youth in southern Illinois
WEST FRANKFORT, Ill. (KBSI) – A small action-based charity group, donates a new gaming system to a homeless shelter for youth in southern Illinois.
Can’s Can is a charity serving the community in a variety of ways, and when a children’s shelter reached out asking for help, Greg Poole knew he had to find a way.
“So, one of their board members reached out and said, ‘Hey the kids are really needing an upgrade in their video game systems,'” said Poole.
He family are founders of Can’s Can in Benton, Illinois. He says when a request like this comes to them, it’s never a matter of ‘How are we going to do this, but when are we going to do this? Something to kind of give them some normalcy while they are at the Night Shield.”
Can’s Can has a small shop of sports cards and comics, which helps raise money for the action–based organization.
Poole adds he advocates for children in circumstances those at the Night’s Shield may face which is a homeless youth shelter in West Frankfort.
“I lived through a lot of traumas as a youth,” he said. “It was really impactful on my life, and honestly sports cards were kind of an outlet for me. And so really, I just turned that outlet into something that we can do for the community.”
Dane Johns is the executive director for Night’s Shield.
“So, the kids would often be pretty discouraged by our video game offerings, but we never had the funding to buy new video games we always have greater needs that if we do have any extra funding, it goes to more essentials,” said Johns.
Johns says a lot of the youth who come to the Night’s Shield have a difficult transition.
“They have a lot of turmoil in their homes,” said Johns. “Sometimes they’re leaving behind situations of abuse, abandonment and neglect.”
The new video game systems help with a feeling of normalcy and comfort during the transition.
“It really just helps a lot to go that further to make this a more comforting place for them,” added Johns.
