BRADENTON – “We call them love to go simply because that’s what we want to portray we want to show love and respect to people on the streets regardless of where they’re at in their life’s or how they got there,” said Laura Licoski.
Licoski, founder of Facing Homelessness Bradenton, says she began passing out sandwich bags as part of community project, but she wanted to take the project to the next level.
“I wanted to do something a little bit different of a twist, make it a little more personal, so we decided to design the bags,” said Licoski.
Each bag design is like no other. With messages of love to drawings, and even an array of stickers the message is always the same. “The purpose behind the Love to Go bag is to brighten your day,” said Licoski. “Just to show a little bit of compassion, a little bit of fun.”
Licoski’s Love to Go Bags have spread like wildfire across Manatee and Sarasota County with different schools volunteering students to make the vibrant lunch bags.
Sophomore at Manatee High School Cody McPherson has even introduced the project to his ROTC program. “About half of ROTC was asking how can I do more of these?” said McPherson. “My Sergeant Major told them to do it cause he needed more community service hours, so people got more engaged with it.”
McPherson says no matter your age the work you do may have a large impact on your community. “You’re not too young to do anything good in the world and all that, and just doing something small like this can help a lot of people,” he said.
And Licoski couldn’t agree more.
“I think really our younger generation is going to be where everything is going to be the change. There’s a lot of people that are my age and older that are very set in their ways and this was their belief and this is how they were raised,” said Licoski. “When you’re working with youth they have nothing but love, they’re untainted and pure and I think that’s the best place to start with an open mind.”
To get involved email Licoski at llicoski@yahoo.com or via Facing Homelessness Bradenton’s Facebook page.
