STRING BAG PROJECT, INC.
CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA

Working with fellow high school students to create, build and run local String Bag Project chapters.  Provide the basic personal necessities that these centers are not able to afford on an individual basis. The centers are also able to form stronger and lasting ties with local high school students. Then high school sophomores, Cole Abbott and Spencer Williams, started String Bag Project (SBP) in the fall of 2014. They wanted to provide the many homeless and in-need men, women and children in and around South Florida with basic personal necessities. They came up with the idea of packing the items in a reusable string bag. The boys then provided 300 string bags through the Coconut Grove Crisis Food Pantry. After seeing how much this relatively simple gesture was appreciated, Cole and Spencer made it a goal to bring people and other communities together to provide these bags to anyone in need throughout South Florida.  SBP's expansion has included bringing on other high school students to help build a lasting organization. To date, SBP has directly distributed over 6,000 string bags through community outreach centers such as Miami Rescue Mission, Lotus House, Chapman Partnership, Branches, Camillus House, the Coconut Grove Food Pantry and Crisis Center, Broward Outreach Center, and Miami Emergency Management.  String Bag Project has provided hurricane releif to the Bahamas, Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Florida Keys. String Bag Project is part of Miami’s Switchboard 211, which provides emergency and crisis relief throughout south Florida.