BIRMINGHAM Ala. – Birmingham area residents answered the call from State Farm® to help create a positive impact in their community by submitting causes as part of this year’s State Farm Neighborhood Assist. Now the top 200 causes have been selected by the State Farm Youth Advisory Board® and two local organizations need your “assist” to help vote them into the top 40. Three Hots and a Cot, an organization that helps homeless veterans, and the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, an organization that helps members of the Latino community integrate into society, are the only two finalists in the state of Alabama this year. From April 28 through May 16, anyone who has the free State Farm Neighborhood Assist Facebook application can vote daily for Homeless Veterans or the Community Learning Center and help bring $25,000 to one of the causes.
According to Three Hots and A Cot, more than one third of the homeless population consists of veterans. The organization wants to use the grant money to help provide job training, life skills training, counseling and case management services to help stabilize mental health, finances, and housing.
The Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama hopes to land a $25,000 grant to fund GED classes in Spanish and a community education center for the classes to take place.
“The great thing about the State Farm Neighborhood Assist program is that it gives individuals the opportunity to really think about what can be done to make their communities stronger,” said State Farm spokesman Roszell Gadson. “State Farm is then able to ‘assist’ the top 40 vote receiving causes and positively impact the community by providing a $25,000 grant to a local partnering nonprofit organization.”
Homeless Veterans and the Community Learning Center now have through May 16 to rally votes in their community, with anyone voting allowed up to 10 votes per day. On May 27, the top 40 vote-receiving causes will be announced on the Facebook app and a $25,000 grant will be awarded to the affiliated nonprofits. Last year the Roanoke City Schools received a $25,000 grant that the district used to educate students about healthy eating habits.
For a complete list of the top 200 causes or to vote for a cause, get the free Facebook app at www.statefarm.com/neighborhoodassist.
