Helping Out for July 28, 2021

The Pet Helpers’ Pet Food Bank has received a 39,000-pound donation from the online pet supply retailer Chewy. The donation, which was arranged in part by the Humane Society of the United States, contained 36 pallets of cat litter, dog food and other pet supplies.

A distribution event was held Saturday at the Pet Helpers facility on Folly Road to give away surplus cat litter and dog food to those in need. Pet Helpers is also sharing the donation with pet food banks at partner shelters across the Lowcountry, including Dorchester Paws, Charleston Animal Society, Berkeley County Animal Shelter, Saint Frances Animal Center, Corner of Kindness and Friends of Colleton County Animal Shelter.

The Lowcountry Food Bank has received a $75,000 grant from the Morgan Stanley Foundation to reintroduce a wider selection of healthy options to food distributions while still maintaining COVID-19 safety protocols. Morgan Stanley has a long-standing commitment to helping communities facing hunger and has donated more than $38 million to the Feeding America network in the last decade.

Hire Me S.C. has launched a free online employment resource for families of people with disabilities. The new initiative aims to address the 42.2% employment gap between those with disabilities in South Carolina and those without by encouraging families to empower their loved ones to meet their employment goals.

The online resource is designed to serve as a hub of employment information, including external resources, tips for families and success stories.

The African American Affairs Department of the Philos Project hosted the third installment of its Conversation on Race conference April 30 through May 2 in Charleston.

The program was co-hosted by Passages Israel and included 24 attendees that had previously participated in a 10-day study abroad trip to Israel for college-aged students. The Philos Project plans to continue to bring diverse groups of leaders to facilitate meaningful programming around the African American experience. The Conversation on Race was made possible by a grant from the Loeb Foundation.