Agency seeks back-to-school clothing, supplies
By: David M. Campbell
Back to school means new clothes and school supplies, new backpacks and new sneakers.
For most children, the new school year really begins with the annual trip to the mall, to get properly outfitted for the first day of classes. Because in school, like any place, looks matter.
Ask Mary’s four children.
Mary is a single parent and homeless. She has a job, as a secretary at the state Department of the Treasury in Trenton. But her minimum-wage salary is not enough to pay rent on an apartment, let alone outfit her kids for the new school year.
For Mary’s young children – two boys aged 10 and 12 and two girls aged 6 and 7 – the back-to-school ritual is one attended with dread. For them, homelessness is a stigma they wear every day of the year. But the first day of classes threatens to be the worst, because with most of their classmates dressed in new things, that stigma will be all the more glaring for Mary’s kid’s, whose only clothes are old and worn-out hand-me-downs from the Salvation Army.
HomeFront, a Lawrence-based volunteer organization that aids Mercer County’s homeless families, sponsors a number of assistance programs for children including Cherry Tree Day Care at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in West Windsor; Route 1 Readers, an after-school program for youngsters living in Route 1 motels; and a Christmas Eve toy program. This time of year, its focus is getting children like Mary’s to go back to school feeling confident and ready to learn.
"We’re absolutely committed to making sure homeless kids go back to school looking like other kids," said HomeFront Executive Director Connie Mercer. "There are so many things against them just to begin with, that we know what matters for the kids is going back looking cool."
For the last four years, volunteer Nancy Podeszwa has coordinated the HomeFront back-to-school drive for these children. Each year, volunteer efforts begin in June, when HomeFront gathers the names, ages, genders and clothing sizes of the children HomeFront’s clients.
There are about 750 Mercer County homeless children enrolled in the back-to-school program this year, Ms. Podeszwa said, and about 100 kids in the program who still need sponsors.
HomeFront volunteers then solicit the help of county businesses, churches and synagogues to sponsor the children. Sponsors may choose to help a single child, a whole family or children from a number of families, by buying them a new set of clothes, new school supplies, a new backpack and shoes.
"I say shoes, but the kids prefer sneakers," Ms. Podeszwa said.
In August, HomeFront volunteers place advertisements in local newspapers, fliers and on grocery store bulletin boards throughout the county asking residents to sponsor a child.
Ms. Mercer pointed out that 75 percent of the families whom HomeFront serves are working poor who "just can’t afford a home in Mercer County’s crazy housing market."
According to the latest U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development statistics, Ms. Mercer said, someone working a minimum-wage job would have to work 117-hours-per-week to afford the average Mercer County apartment.
Mary lost her home in Trenton to a fire two months ago. Everything she and her children owned – their furniture, their clothing, everything – was lost in the fire.
Mary contacted HomeFront, which helped her find temporary housing. For a few weeks, Mary’s family lived out of a room in Mount’s Motel, on Route 1 in Lawrence. Then they moved into transitional housing, in time to spare Mary’s children the shame of having to ride the "homeless kids" bus, which stops regularly at motels along Route 1 during the school year to take HomeFront children to classes.
Mary’s kids also will have new clothes and supplies for their first day of classes, thanks to HomeFront sponsors.
"HomeFront does have a very large program of giving used clothes to families, but back to school is the one time we think kids should have new – new shoes and new clothing that they should feel wonderful in and a back pack that is just right," Ms. Mercer said.
Anyone interested in becoming part of HomeFront’s back-to-school drive by sponsoring a child, donating clothing, school supplies or sneakers, or by making a cash contribution toward their purchase, should call Nancy Podeszwa at (609) 882-8603.