3 things you can do to alleviate the back-to-school burden on homeless families

Posted

It’s mid -August and the stores are bustling with families scrambling to get their school supplies, outfits, and new shoes before the school year begins in just a few short weeks. Children are excitedly trying on sneakers and shoes, pants, skirts and tops, and selecting their school supplies, branded lunch boxes, and backpacks. The bill for these items can run families a few hundred dollars per child. Store sales help, but prices can still skyrocket. Think for a moment about the anxiety parents experiencing homelessness feel, without the funds to meet their children’s school needs.

When I was younger, I couldn’t wait to go shopping with my parents to select a back -to- school outfit; shirts with my favorite superheroes on them, pants and shorts to match, and of course, new shoes. Stepping on the foot measuring device, walking around the shoe store in my socks and picking out a new pair of light -up sneakers was so exciting! As I grew older and I became more aware of popular brands and their cost, I felt fortunate that my family was able to purchase not only what I needed for school, but also what I liked.

But not every student was as excited about back to school as I was. The sad truth is that there are almost 2.5 million homeless children in the U.S., according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. One out of every three homeless people are youths under the age of 24. Children are homeless in every city, county, and state throughout our country.

I first became aware of the prevalence of homeless youth when I was five, and met children of every age at a local shelter where I went to volunteer with my mother. I was surprised to see that many of these children didn’t have shoes that fit them, if they had any at all. Children stayed behind at the shelter while a sibling wore the only pair of shoes they had to share between them, and they would switch places the next day. The first day of school would come and go for some of these children, all because they lacked their own properly fitting footwear. Some children expressed how embarrassed they felt having to wear shoes that were so worn out, and then, having to come up with excuses for their peers and teachers as to why they missed the first day of school, and many subsequent days as well.

It was very hard for me to understand that these children, who had the same hopes and dreams as I had, were not afforded the same opportunities as I was. That is why I started the nonprofit, Gotta Have Sole Foundation, and since 2010 we have donated brand- new shoes to over 51,000 homeless children in all 50 states. These shoes enable homeless children to attend school, participate in sports, experience social activities alongside their peers, and succeed.

But there is so much more these children need, both physically and emotionally, especially at the start of the school year. They are trying to fit in with their peers, but cannot afford the brands that are so popular today. They oftentimes hide in embarrassment, ashamed of the condition of what they have to wear. Many have low self- esteem.

We need to think about how we can improve the dignity of homeless children, as well as increase their self -confidence and pride so they can realize their hopes and dreams and succeed, whether on a tiled school floor, the playground, or on a basketball court. So what can we, as a community, do to help the homeless families in our own backyards during this back- to -school season? We asked a homeless shelter, and here is what they said are the three most pressing things we can do:

1. Donate gift cards to homeless shelters so homeless families can purchase clothing and/or school supplies for their children.

Most schools send home a supply list that parents must purchase for their children to have with them the first day of school. Long gone are the days when schools provided an abundant supply of markers, pencils, glue sticks, etc., for children to use in the classroom. Instead they must supply their own to use during the day and must have additional supplies to use after school to complete their homework. The shelter we spoke with told us that one year they had a large amount of high school students in the shelter who didn’t have calculators for math class. The shelter had to round up the money to purchase them, which put a strain on their budget.

Donating gift cards to general big box stores that carry clothing and school supplies, or separate clothing and office supply stores would be a huge help to homeless families and would allow them the ability to purchase what they need. One thing to keep in mind is that not all shelters have the staff that can go purchase the items for the families. You’ll need to find this out from your local shelter and if families have to do the purchasing themselves, try to find a store in the shelters neighborhood, as people who are homeless often do not have money for transportation.

2. Become a near -peer mentor/tutor with Gotta Have Sole Clubs program.

Transitioning to a new school can be very difficult for homeless children who oftentimes have been uprooted from their neighborhood and are attending a new school where they do not know anyone. Our Gotta Have Sole high school clubs are run by teen leaders who act as peer mentors and provide a constant for the children at the shelters. Near -peer mentors go to the shelter after school to give moral support to the children and to help them with homework challenges. They also provide new shoes for the children, and run after school activities with them, which promotes a more inclusive and cohesive community. To start a club in your school or community, go to gottahavesole.org/ghs/club.

3. Donate new footwear to Gotta Have Sole’s Step Up for Homeless Youth campaign at classy.org/events/step up for homeless youth/e86094, and we will purchase the footwear children in shelters need. Summer is always our busiest time of the year with footwear orders pouring in, so this summer, we’ve made it our mission to outfit 1,000 homeless children with the footwear they need for back -to -school. Families are struggling to provide the necessities for their children and we want to alleviate this financial burden. It costs us an average of $15 to outfit a young child with a new pair of shoes, and $25 for our teens. One-hundred percent of donations support our footwear program.

I don’t see sneakers as being cool or trendy. For many homeless children, shoes are a sign of hope, opportunity, and dreams fulfilled. Join with us, and improve the lives of homeless children, one “sole” at a time. Nicholas Lowinger of Cranston is the founder of the nonprofit Gotta Have Sole Foundation. This fall, he will be attending New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here