The Need: Back to school time can be difficult for children living in Family Shelters. Their parents cannot afford new clothes or school supplies. Every child should have a chance to attend school and feel good about themselves.
Some of you might think it is the schools job to provide the needed supplies. In the classroom that may be the case, but they do not provide a back pack for the children to get their homework to and from school. They do not provide pencils, crayons, glue sticks etc. for the children to do their homework.
Single mothers are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population. Many of these homeless single mothers lack the education and skills necessary to become self sufficient. The significance of this problem is that a continuous cycle of homelessness may continue through generations if it is not ended through education and skills to maintain self sufficiency in the community. Thomas House Family Shelter and Colette’s Children’s Home both work with homeless women and children to provide emergency shelter, transitional housing and permanent housing. What we really like is that they also provide the life skills needed to secure gainful employment, healthy eating, parenting skills, relapse prevention and conflict resolution to break the cycle!
The Challenge: We took on the challenge of collecting back packs filled with all the supplies needed for a school year to provide to kids in need. These kids are living in poverty and can not afford the necessary items to fulfill their education. We are very proud to say that accomplished that goal!
RESULT: We had several generous people drop off back packs and school supplies. The backpacks were filled to the rim with school paper, notebooks, pencils, pens, highlighters, glue etc. Some of them also included gift cards for back to school clothes, new sweaters were stuffed into the matching lunch boxes that was connected to the backpack, a lot of them had really nice notes attached wishing the kids a great year in school. We were also blessed with the support of Thirty One with Samira who encouraged supporters to donate an insulated lunch tote from Thirty One. For each one donated, she generously used her commission to fill it with school supplies.
Mid August we were excited to drop off 68 insulated lunch totes from Thirty One filled with school supplies to Colette’s Children’s Home in Huntington Beach. As a bonus, we offered a few larger lunch totes to the very hard working staff at Colette’s! We also dropped off 50 backpacks filled with supplies to Thomas House Family Shelter in Garden Grove. In total, we were able to make this school year a little easier for 118 children! They were beyond excited to receive these donations.
Thank you SO much for your support and generosity!
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