[PHOTOSTORY 5: STRUGGLE] The Button

 By: Rayne Deese

Liz Corbett, founder of the local non-profit organization, The Button, sits in her office to analyze all that needs to be done. The Button collects and discreetly delivers hygiene items to local schools for families that can't afford them within the community. 

The place where the magic happens. Liz Corbett knew The Button needed a bigger place because of all of the items, so she rents out a part of The Boys and Girls Club in Statesboro to be the head office space. 

The displayed flyer that fully explains what the Button does for the community. This flyer also mentions ways that people can become involved. 

Images that show how The Button first got started. Liz Corbett began collecting items in her home kitchen back in 2022, and then the impact began to grow. 

The disorganized pile of hygiene items still needed to be put into their correct location. Volunteers are always needed so that organization can take place for all of the items collected. 

The shelves continue to get loaded up with donated items. Items that get collected range from toothpaste, shampoo, lotion, deodorant, and women's feminine products. 

Soap tends to be the most requested item from individuals. There is always more than 100 soaps in the inventory at a time. 

Detergent is a priority item that gets requested often. With in-hand money donations, Liz Corbett will go and buy these types of priority items to keep in inventory for those that need them.

The line of shampoo that is in inventory. Each bag has one shampoo bottle per hygiene bag.

The stocked toothpaste that has been collected over the semester. There is over 1,000 toothpaste collected. 

Liz Corbett plants spiritual encouragement around the office. "I want the volunteers and myself to remember what this is all for," Corbett said. 

Once the bags are packed, they will be put transferred into colorful string bags. The Button has stickers that they identify the business with, which is displayed on every bag. 

Director of PR for The Button, Tyler Martin, takes a glance at all of the collected items in inventory. "It took a while to count and organize all of this," Tyler said. 

The list of things to be done for volunteers on service days. When volunteers come, they will know what items to pack in which bags. 

Tyler points at a picture from one of her favorite service events that they had for The Button. They frequently host events where local foster care patients and volunteers can come and help out for service hours. 

The empty shelves that will soon be filled. These shelves stay empty until all the bags are ready for send out to schools. 

Tyler and Liz start filling the shelves up with the ready-to-go summer bags. They use Walmart grocery carts to transfer the bags from one room to the other. 

The ready-to-go summer bags. Each of these bags were all requested by students from local schools. 

The empty donations box proves that items are always needed! Each week, the number of people in need of items increases, meaning donated items are always in need.

Once all bags are packed, The Button delivers the items to the schools who requested them. All the students that receive their ordered bag will then have hygiene items to last them for at least one month. 

 

[PHOTOSTORY 5: STRUGGLE] FEEDING THE BORO

By: William McCranie

 

Feed The Boro is hosting a food drop at Statesboro High School. The event took place on Saturday, April 25th.

There is a lot of volunteers who showed up early this morning to give back. There were students from elementary school up to students at Georgia Southern, spending their time as volunteers.

There are pallets filled with food and essentials, like these cases of blackberry juice. The people in need lined up in a drive-thru line in their cars for Feed The Boro to have easy access to put food in their cars.

There is also fruit and vegetables ready to be given out, like these pears. Every car was given two bags each.

A young kid is picking up bags of beans to put in the next car. He spent a lot of time sorting the beans out of the bags.

Volunteers are waiting at their stations to load up cars. Each car was given fish sticks, fruit, drinks, beans, and snacks.

The line of cars wrapped around the parking lot, waiting for their turn. Cars showed up before 7:30 to make sure they had a spot in line.

A group of Georgia Southern students is waiting to hand out bags of pears. It was around 8:30 a.m., and there was a noticeable dent in the food left.

A Feed the Boro banner celebrating the United States of America's 250th birthday. There were multiple signs and trucks promoting Feed the Boro.

There's an overabundance of onions. At the end the organizers were telling the volunteers to take two bags of onions home each.

There are two lanes for the drive-thru, with stations on each side handing out food. This helped get through more cars faster and was efficient with all the volunteers there to help.

Many of the volunteers are wearing volunteer shirts with some of the local businesses that are helping sponsor the event.

Volunteers are handing out boxes of frozen fish sticks. There was also an overabundance of fish sticks, with some volunteers taking some home.

Bags of onions waiting to be given out towards the end of the event. It's no wonder they were asking some volunteers to take some home.

The last car in line is able to get as much extra as they need. The event ended a little before 10 a.m. with hundreds of people getting the food they needed.

The event is coming to an end, and volunteers are starting to pack and clean up. They are loading the leftover blackberry juice into a truck.

With no more cars in line, volunteers are breaking down boxes. These boxes will later be recycled.

Feed the Boro is using a moving truck to help transport everything. There was a ton of food piled onto pallets.

Volunteers are packing up leftover boxes of fruit cups. These are going back into the moving truck.

The volunteers are packing everything up. There was a big turnout of people helping and people showing up to be helped.

[PHOTOSTORY 5: STRUGGLE] Grief Journey of a College Student

 By: Cate Kearby

Sara Phillips is a senior marketing major at Georgia Southern University. When she was 5 and 10 years old she lost both of her parents to tragic accidents. Day-to-day she navigates her grief journey remembering them. 

As she makes her bed, her baby blanket remains in the background. This blanket was given to her at birth by her mother. 

The paintings on her wall represent both of her birth parents flowers. Waking up everyday, she is reminded of them. 

Sara wearing her fathers shirt, allows me to view her locket. This locket contains photos of her mother and father so she brings them with her wherever she may go. 

As the day goes on, she is searching through her mother's recipe book. Her mother's cooking mitts rest closely near by. 

She flips through the book reminicising her mother's recipes she used to make for her. 

Another image of her mother's recipe gives more detail as to how much she loved to cook. Sara finds joy in cooking as a characteristic passed down to her.

As she sorts through the book, she smiles with happiness. She finally decides on a recipe to make for that night from her mother's book. 

Sara's tattoo on her left wrist represents a message that her father wrote her before he passed. She is reminded of him every time she looks at her wrist. 

Sara's ring stack is also filled with representations of them. The two silver bands are her mother and father's birthstones, while the middle gold band represents her own birthstone. 

Sara's other ankle tattoo is a note left for her from her mother stating "I Love You." This is another way to help her navigate her grief journey throughout college. 

Sara sorts through more memories from her parents as she stumbles upon cards written from them. 

The card that Sara found was from her father to her mother. She enjoys reading her father's words as they mean so much to her. 

Another card she found was from her roommates on the anniversary from her mother's passing. She keeps these letters to remember the love she is surrounded by during her grief path. 

Sara's roommates dog watches closely as she sorts through memories that help her grieve. 

As Sara goes through her clothes, more memories arise. The shirts that were once her fathers are now hers. 

All of the hats in her basket, she wears in her mom's honor. All of her keepsakes make her feel closer to her parents when the days get hard. 

The frame on her dresser was passed down to her from her mother and father. This is a constant reminder that her grief might not be final, but there are ways to cope. 

The left flower represents her mother's birth flower and the right represents her fathers birth flower. 

Sara continues to find memories that fill her with happiness daily. Her grief journey may not disappear, but it helps with her keepsakes to remind her of them.