This August, Project Downtown put together 700 backpacks filled with a variety of necessary school supplies for students in the Jennings school District. The packaging and distribution of the​ backpacks was completed with the help of 14 Project Downtown volunteers.

Project Downtown board member Hadeel Nasser led the charge on this project.

"The motivation behind the Back to School drive is to support students of all ages in their education journey. With the crucial supplies, students will be able to learn the best they can and maximize their knowledge effectively. Our goal is to be a backbone for the students of our future generation and make sure they are well-skilled," Nasser said.

Quality supplies were ordered from Bags-in-Bulk and distributed on August 1st. The supplies varied for elementary, middle and high school backpacks. Supplies included highlighters, binders, folders, pencils, pencil pouches, pencil sharpeners, pens and markers. Planning a drive with such large quantities of materials required precision in organization.  

"To every problem, there is a solution," Nasser said. "If Bags-in-Bulk didn't have a certain item, I made sure the item was found. I went to supplies stores around town and collected what was needed. As well as, if there was a higher quantity than expected, we made sure to donate supplies to the school so they could store extras for teachers and students who may need it."

The event was overall very successful and Nasser credits the Jennings school district's educational staff and Project Downtown board members for their hard work and support.

Please click here to donate to our Back to School GoFundMe!

Changing lives, one backpack at a time.

This summer, Project Downtown Saint Louis partnered with a local prominent African American church in Jennings, Missouri to host our first annual “Kid’s Nonviolence Week.” After having brainstormed with the Pastor of New Northside, Rev. Rodrick Burton, we decided that one of the most important skills that children from under-resourced families lack is the knowledge of how to resolve conflicts without reverting to violence. This temptation to deal with conflict through violence leads many children down the path of suspension from school to an inability to maintain employment and unfortunately, often to prison. Rev. Burton is constantly working with the Better Family Life organization at their “De-escalation Center” to prevent ordinary disagreements between adults from growing into full fledged homicide. Our hope with this week was to introduce these children to concepts such as emotional regulation, the responsibility of their actions, forgiveness, and many more to start them from an early age, not on the path of violence, but on the path of peace.  
Another major obstacle for low-income families with young children in the summer is the absence of the “Free Lunch” that they are provided by the school district when school is in session. This was an easy problem to address because, as you would expect, Project Downtown Saint Louis thrives at providing quality free food. Each day we provided lunch and a snack for the kids to relieve some more financial burden from the families that we serve. We were even able to employ a local grandmother of some of the kids to make candy apples as a special treat for the kids at the end of the week-- simultaneously supporting her local business and providing a special snack for the children!
Each day of our 4-day seminar we had more and more students attending. The children were very receptive to the material and were always disappointed when the day had to come to an end. While fun was a priority for us, the material about nonviolence was the most important aspect of our week with the kids. The first day we discussed how emotions work and our ability to control our actions once we experience emotions like anger, jealousy, sadness, and frustration. The second day we introduced the idea that “Disagreements are Okay!” Disagreements are bound to happen in all of our lives and our job is to use them as opportunities to learn, understand, and possibly forgive each other. The third day we gave them opportunities to think of “Helpful, not Hurtful” responses to age appropriate disagreements. We talked about kindness as an alternative way to deal with conflict in their lives. The final day our focus was on the fact that each person is “In-Charge” of their own actions and can always choose to respond in a way that improves the situation. In the short time that we had with them the kids seemed to really grow in their ability to notice conflict before it got out of hand and deal with it in a more productive and healthy way!
One beautiful comment that someone made during the week was that they loved how Muslim people, who are often wrongfully depicted in the media as being violent, especially to other faiths, were partnering with a local church to invest in the children of the community in a way that leads to more peace! Project Downtown Saint Louis is excited to continue to make small, faithful steps towards making this world, and particularly this St. Louis community a better place--- “serving compassion one meal at a time.”

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​Every day millions of American families across our great nation gather around the dinner table to enjoy a healthy meal. These same people may not realize there are 42 million people who go hungry every day in our neighborhoods. 

While our team cannot change the entire country, we aim to positively impact the lives in our local cities, to help the very brothers and sisters we share the St. Louis community with. Project Downtown Saint Louis is an entirely functional 501c3b not-for-profit organization. Since 2013, we have provided more than 100 freshly cooked meals every Saturday to underprivileged families in Saint Louis. A total that surpasses 20,000 meals since our inception with the continued support of the community, no end in sight.
 
On October 28th, 2017, Project Downtown Saint Louis will be holding their 2nd  annual “Feed the Hungry” event.  The race to make 1,000 meals in 4 hours for all of the shelters in the Saint Louis area will kick off at 8:00 am. This year, Project Downtown Saint Louis plans to deliver meals to Gateway 180 Homeless Shelter, Women’s Safe House, Room at the Inn, Karen House, Biddle House Opportunities Center, Missionaries of Charity, Sunshine Ministries, Inc, Our Lady’s Inn, Kathy Weinman Center, Covenant House, Haven of Grace, Places for People, Center of Women in Transition and  Almost home. Project Downtown Saint Louis team will be reaching out to provide meals to local homeless communities who don't have the option of being in a shelter.

Greetings,
Project Downtown Saint Louis, which is part of the national organization , started in 2013 by giving out fresh meals to the needy and poor families every Saturday in the city of Saint Louis. Along with giving out fresh meals, Project Downtown Saint Louis realized there is a need for school supplies as well. Since the beginning, PDSTL started giving out 100s of backpacks with supplies to needy families and kids. This year, 2017, was a little different for Project Downtown Saint Louis because the Florissant and Ferguson School district  reached out to ICNA relief STL and then ICNA relief  STL asked us if we could work together and provide 1000 backpacks to the kids. Since the demand was very high, Project Downtown Saint Louis denied the request and offered to provide 350 backpacks.. On august 5th, 2017, Project Downtown Saint Louis and ICNA Relief STL partnered and provided 350 backpacks to the Florissant and Ferguson School District. It was one of the most heart touching moment to see kids lined up to claim their free backpacks from Project Downtown Saint Louis. All of the backpacks were gone within 30 minutes. Every kid looked back at Project Downtown Saint Louis board members  and gave them a huge smile and said THANK YOU so much for helping us out. A lot of the parents personally came up to the PDSTL board members and thanked them by giving them hugs.

We do want to take a moment to recognize  the Islamic Foundation of greater Saint Louis, Muslim Youth of Saint Louis, ICNA Relief - Saint Louis, Salam Market and Upper Trends for sponsoring this event. Huge THANKS goes out these organizations and business for helping out. Our goal is to give out 1000 backpacks next year to the Florssant and Ferguson School District, God willingly.