NILES — In the past, Lydia Farmer and her family struggled financially and had to rely on organizations when they needed them most. Sometimes, resources were not always available.

Now, the Niles resident wants to help other people get the resources they need directly at no cost.

Farmer, a 10th grader, is in the process of creating a monthly program meant to give resources directly to those needing them most. She hopes to start it near the end of the year.

In the 15-year-old’s vision, people can donate money or items. Then, people in need can pick items up at a public location in downtown Niles. If someone has a need that Farmer’s collected objects cannot provide, she will use her monetary donations to purchase it.

All those served need is a ticket from nonprofit Ferry Street Resource Center as proof their socioeconomic status is as they say.

The idea has its roots in the curriculum of Farmer’s school, Niles New Tech Entrepreneurial Academy.

“New Tech is project-based learning, but you also learn to help others,” Farmer said. “For 10th grade, as I started, they asked us what we would do if we had our own service plan. Mine was kind of bigger than others.”

The school assignment was a brainstorming exercise, but Farmer ran with it.

In the weeks leading up to the start of the school year, Farmer has been identifying city-owned properties and empty storefronts where she could set up shop once a month and brainstorming items from personal experience she thinks others might need.

She is also working with Ric Pawloski, executive director of Ferry Street Resource Center, to work out the logistics of her program. Pawloski has offered his organization — which serves those in crises through both immediate care and sustainable training programs — as a drop-off space for her donated items.

“It’s very, very encouraging for us when we see young people who want to give back and to help,” he said. “When that happens, we want to be very involved and encouraging. It’s not always as common as we would hope. For her to approach us with this project is very, very refreshing.”

Pawloski was particularly impressed by Farmer’s idea for a ticket as proof of need. He said there have been a few people who have come to Ferry Street Resource Center hoping to make use of free items when they were not struggling financially at all.

He said the nonprofit’s services coordinator, Arquilla Lewis, who has been with the center for seven years, knows the community well, which will make for effective ticket-granting.

Pawloski is also helping Farmer come up with a list of needed items and will house them intermittently at the resource center’s 620 Ferry St. location.

“This is a place where people in need come, so we can determine what needs are,” he said. “Because we’re communicating now, she can tell me things, like what she has. We can pair people up in need that way.”

Socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste and warm clothing are staples not just for homeless people who may participate, but those with homes.

“Anyone who’s in need of anything [can come], because you can still have a home, but still be short on clothes, shoes or food,” Farmer said.

She plans to open up her monthly donation shop this December or the following January.

“I’ll have stuff coming in, including money and birthday presents, that if I don’t want, I can put into the donation,” she said. “That’s around Christmas time and all that, when people are willing to go get things to help others.”

Farmer also noted Niles New Tech students also make blankets for the homeless in the winter and their products could be given away through her program. Some students might utilize her program to receive mandatory service hours, too.

As Farmer works to find the space and support needed to make her project a reality, she is also working on a name. Pawloski recommended, “Lydia’s Love for People in Need.”

Farmer appeared hesitant about the name, worried that if she had to eventually pass the program on to someone else, its name would become obsolete.

But Pawloski told her she was the one who was putting the project together on her own time. Plus, the title made sense.

“That’s why you’re doing it, right?” he said. “You love to help people in need.”