Homeless Students in our Community

Homeless School matching grant deadline extended to June 15th. Arlene Hulten, Lake Stevens School District Director of Communications spoke to the Club  April 27, 2012 at the request of Terri Spencer to talk briefly about "Homeless Kids in Lake Stevens". This year, there are 93 homeless kids in the Lake Stevens School District compared to 112 last year. Homelessness is often annonymous--when school districts become aware of the crisis, interventions and supporrts are put into place to assist the student to have all the benefits that other students enjoy at school. The School District provides food at school, books, transportation and coats, shirts/ties for special events as well as providing a nursing assistant for the students and their families. Federal $$$$ do not go far enough, so the district relies on private scholarships to help. Arlene and club member Ken Collins gave some examples of students living in a homeless environment. Our Rotary Club is in the process of submitting a District 5050 grant request for $5,000 with 50% of the funds coming from members, private donations from other service clubs and the community such as the Chamber of Commerce. See related article on fundraiser efforts to support these programs