Connie Mercer, Lawrence
I am so proud to live in a community that cares. This is why I feel so deeply grateful to the citizens of Mercer County who have supported HomeFront’s Back to School Program.
If you could see the homeless children going off to school looking just like their classmates, you would know exactly what I mean. They are wearing new school clothes and carrying a backpack full of school supplies. There is a smile on their face, a glint in their eye and a spring in their step. They belong. I wish that all of you could be there to see them.
Individuals, corporations, congregations and organizations make this possible by supporting our homeless children in our annual HomeFront Back-to-School campaign. I want to give all of you my profound thanks.
Things are extremely hard this year and your kindness and generosity are appreciated more than ever. We see so many more families who have lost their jobs and have lost or are losing their home. We are struggling just to feed, clothe and shelter families in need, but, no matter what, it is ultimately about what kind of lives these children are going to have and what we can do now to get them on the right track, to make it so they will finish school, get jobs and maybe even go to college, just like their peers. In the long run, that is how we can fight povertyand end it.
I know in my heart that we all share the same sense of mission when it comes to this goal. Together, we can make it happen, one child with a new backpack and a new pair of sneakers at a time.
Connie Mercer
Executive Director, HomeFront
Lawrence
