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The Community School raises funds for students experiencing homelessness
Posted by Communications Staff on 5/2/2022
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At The Community School, students gathered on April 22 to learn how much money they raised to support Spokane Public Schools’ Homeless Education And Resources Team, commonly known as HEART.
The fundraiser was part of the school’s “Spring into Action” campaign, a celebration of giving back to the community. This year, students worked with Generation Alive’s Illuminate Program to raise funds for students experiencing homelessness. In the end, the students raised $3,284.85.
“The idea behind the HEART program specifically was that we felt that a lot of students could get behind a lot of what they were doing,” said David Goldbloom, a student at The Community School. “So the HEART program aims to help students who are experiencing homelessness within the district. And so, if a student, for example, that doesn't come from a means of money can't afford a prom ticket, the HEART program would step in and help with that. And we felt that a lot of students could be sympathetic toward that cause, like, ‘Oh, that person can't do a lot of the things that I can do. So like, this is a really good cause to put money towards and support.’”
Cassandra Williams is the program coordinator at Generation Alive. She was the liaison to the students and introduced the Illuminate Program.
“The Illuminate program focuses on the need of homelessness,” she said. “We’ll bring the program into the school, share with students about homelessness, the complexities of it, what it looks like in our community, and kind of break it down. Then students do the fundraisers.”
The students took the Illuminate Program and ran with it. They organized online fundraisers, an Easter egg hunt, spaghetti feeds, classroom competitions, and even received a $500 Give Grant from the United Way.
“I was part of the group that helped with connecting with Generation Alive. They do a lot of this sort of thing already,” student Timothy Blake said. “So they had expertise in setting up this sort of thing and then following through with it that we just didn't have. So they really helped us in that way.”
“They allowed us to pick whatever we wanted to support and who we wanted to help,” added Lydia Schlazer. “So they just helped us do that.”
Elizabeth Day, also a student at The Community School, learned a lot about students experiencing homelessness.
“Homelessness can be in multiple different ways. It's not just someone out on the street,” she said. “I didn't realize that some students can be living at, like, their friend's home, and that will be considered homeless because they're not living at their actual home with their family. So I didn't realize that until now.”
“Having students understand why we're doing something and why it's a big deal in our community is probably the big first step that people need to take to, you know, get something like this going,” Goldbloom said. “We wouldn't be able to get a fundraiser at this size going if we just didn't inform anyone, like essentially why this was a problem. So that's the big first step that we took and I think that's what other people need to do as well.”
On April 29, The Community School celebrated Spring into Action by planting trees with the Lands Council, clearing litter from the banks of the Spokane River, working with the Downtown Spokane Partnership to help clean parts of downtown, and more. They also packed more than 500 care kits for the HEART Program using the money they raised.
Cassandra Williams, at Generation Alive, was happy to work with The Community School and came away impressed with the students’ tenacity in helping their peers who may be experiencing homelessness.
“I think the biggest thing is the uniqueness of their school,” she said. “Our whole mission is to empower students to serve their community, and so it’s really cool to see these kids from The Community School. Not only are they serving their community, but they’re also being empowered to kind of run the program on their own. I’m more of a support than anything else and I think that’s really special.”
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