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Detroit-Kids in Need Gives a Boost to Academics, Self-esteem
Students at K.B.White Elementary School in the Highland Park area of Detroit face daily hardships, which include the challenge of arriving to school safely, working with outdated textbooks and broken furniture, and sitting in mice-infested classrooms. For most of these children, having school supplies to help them become able learners is just a dream. Leslee Hathaway teaches special education at White Elementary because she wants to step up to that challenge. She has found a willing partner in World Vision, which operates the Kids in Need Resource Center. The center provides teachers like Leslee the opportunity to “shop” regularly for school supplies and learning tools that give her young students a boost and a better chance to achieve academic success. | |  |
| A new backpack puts a smile on the face of a young Detroit student at a recent distribution from the Kids in Need Resource Center. |
The Kids in Need Resource Center has been a partnership between World Vision in Detroit and the School, Home, and Office Products Association (SHOPA) Foundation for Educational Excellence since 2000. SHOPA members are manufacturers and retailers of school and office supplies, and they donate their overstock and outdated merchandise to World Vision for children who go to schools that serve predominantly low-income neighborhoods. Schools in which at least 70 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-fee lunches qualify for the Kids in Need program. Last year, 35 area schools benefited from the center, but hundreds more qualify and could benefit if the center had the resources to serve them all.
Many of the Kids in Need Resource Center staff members are volunteers, who are motivated by stories they hear from teachers about students who come to school without even pencils or paper. In these youngsters’ homes, decisions must be made: school supplies or groceries. School supplies rarely win. They read statistics that show students who lack resources lag behind their schoolmates, and studies that paint a picture of teachers who try to narrow that gap by spending hundreds, and sometimes thousands of their own dollars each year.
Participating schools can send their teachers to pick up top-quality school and office supplies that range from books, pens, pencils, paper and crafts supplies, to binders, backpacks, rulers, toys and gifts that can be used for incentives or rewards. Blankets for health rooms and even socks, underwear, and toothbrushes are some of the necessary items teachers can find at the center.
Last year World Vision put school supplies into some 700 classrooms and into the hands of an estimated 21,000 students. This program changes hearts and lives, as Leslee attests.
“The children now have pencils that are longer than 2 inches in length.Your program has provided art supplies that allow our students to explore and discover their hidden talents,” she said in a letter of thanks to World Vision in Detroit. Leslee added that Kids in Need frees up the resources she needs to supply her students with calculators, computer games, and a printer.
World Vision in Detroit wants to reach out to more children in the coming year, and has set a goal of adding at least 10 new schools to the program. The Target Corporation has been a loyal supporter, providing a steady base of volunteers and an annual grant that covers approximately 25 percent of operating costs for Kids in Need. But to continue to serve existing program partners and to reach additional schools, more support is needed.
How You Can Help
• $30 will stuff a new backpack with school supplies for a child who otherwise would go without.
• $100 will pay for transporting $3,000 worth of crayons, pens, pencils, books, erasers, and other school supplies.
• $22,000 pays the rent for the center for one year.
• $57,000 pays salaries and benefits for staff.
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| Vision Youth Help provide tutoring, life skills training, and a caring relationship to high-risk youth. | | ||
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| The Storehouse Provide school supplies, clothes, toys, household goods and building supplies for strengthening families,schools and neighborhoods. | | ||
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| Tools for Transformation Help provide the organizational, planning and leadership tools to transform a neighborhood. | | ||
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| Read about what is happening in The Storehouse program around the country by clicking on the location name below. |
