Serve Denton/Serve Lewisville were chosen by the Young Men’s Service League (YMSL) Lantana Chapter to receive this year’s “Ultimate Gift” project.
Over the course of the first two weekends in November, high school-aged young men and their moms harvested over 3,000 pounds of produce at Shiloh Field Community Garden in Denton, where fresh produce is grown for the hungry in Denton County.
From mid-November into early December YMSL-Lantana members served over 300 families with food items and built a storage shed at Serve Lewisville. Approximately 60 teens and their moms dedicated 315 hours of assistance.
The chapter’s intention was to not only educate its membership on food insecurity in Denton County, but also to help make a difference in the community by serving a need. CEO Pat Smith, of Serve Denton and Serve Lewisville, came and talked with the members about what it means to be food insecure in our area and how the chapter can help.
“Many of our Philanthropy Partners work hard each and every day to solve food insecurity. In fact in Denton County alone, we have 21% of our population that does not know where their next meal will come from. We called our project ‘Hungry to Help’ because we truly want to help and serve our partners by being part of the solution,” said Andra Schwenk- YMSL Lantana’s VP of Philanthropy.
The YMSL Ultimate Gift is a multi-day philanthropic event dedicated to one or more philanthropy partners per year, in addition to their ongoing philanthropic support in the community. The goal is to do something transformational for a nonprofit organization that they may otherwise not have had the manpower or resources to do for itself.
The YMSL-Lantana chapter is composed of 96 ninth-12th grade young men and their moms from the Lantana and immediate surrounding area, who work together to serve those in need in our area. Learn more at chapters.ymsl.org/chapter/lantana/
Submitted by Andra Schwenk- YMSL Lantana VP of Philanthropy