By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

PELHAM – Pelham City Schools has become one of the latest school districts in the state to partner with Neighborhood Bridges, a charity in Westerville, Ohio, to launch Neighborhood Bridges Pelham and create a gateway for kindness.

Neighborhood Bridges was founded and launched in January of 2017 to serve the children, residents and families of Westerville, Ohio. Neighborhood Bridges has engaged local residents and businesses through direct support and care to more than nine communities in Ohio, serving more than 16,000 central Ohio children and families. They have now expanded to 10 communities in Alabama, with Pelham being one of the latest to join forces with the organization to directly meet the needs of students and families.

The national non-profit has now expanded to 10 cities in Alabama, as the program acts like a year-round angel tree bridging community kindness and resources to support neighbors in need.

School leaders in all Pelham schools, including administrators, teachers, and counselors, will advocate for students and families in need. Neighborhood Bridges technology will be utilized to unite the community by helping to facilitate a simple and easy-to-use two-step process to identify, publish and then fill the needs. These might include food, clothing, shoes, coats, eye exams, school supplies, school fees, furniture, household items and other donations as identified.

Pelham community members can sign up to receive a weekly email that includes a list of needs identified for students in Pelham schools. Community members choose the need they would like to fulfill and deliver the donation to any of the five Pelham Fire Department stations. Once donations are received, the fire department will deliver the kindness donations to the student’s school.

Various “opportunities for kindness” will be posted onto the website link, Neighborhoodbridges.org/community/Pelham-Al as well as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages specific to Neighborhood Bridges Pelham. Links to those social media pages are: Facebook.com/PelhamBridges/, Twitter.com/BridgesPelham, and Instagram.com/pelhambridges/.

Needs will be posted beginning Monday, Dec. 2.