CLOTHING/SHOE DRIVE FOR STUDENTS IN NEED
Please read the letter below from the Social Worker at Jefferson Elementary. In the month of February, we will be collecting items to assist them. You may put your donations in the black bin in the lobby of Fellowship Hall. Thank you so much for your generosity!
The following items are needed:
- New or gently used shoes, especially youth sizes 3 & 4
- Boy’s Jeans Sizes 7/8 and 10
- New socks of all sizes
- New underwear in sizes 5T to adult large
My name is Samantha Zawistowski, and I am a school social worker at Jefferson Elementary School. Jefferson is a beautiful school that is rich in its diversity. Jefferson serves children from preschool through fifth grade. Jefferson also serves one RBS classroom and two EC adaptive classrooms.
Jefferson is a title one school as well as a cep school. A title one school means that at least 40% of our population is from low-income homes. A cep (community eligibility provision) school means that at least 40% of our population is eligible for free or reduced lunch. A cep school provides breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. This year 98% of our students qualified for free or reduced lunch.
Jefferson currently has 726 students enrolled. 100 of those students receive EC services (special education services). 30 of those EC students are in an adaptive classroom. We have about 26 different languages at our school currently. We have 145 students receiving EL services. We are currently working with about 100 refugee families. We have families living in hotels/motels, their cars, or even couch surfing.
We know that students come to school to learn; however, it is difficult to focus on learning when you are cold, hungry, don’t know where you will sleep tonight, or don’t have adequate supplies. This year at Jefferson, we are focusing on meeting the needs of students so they can learn. Many of our refugee families come with the one outfit they are wearing (this outfit may not fit them, and often the footwear is sandals).
This year we are constantly giving out the sanitary kits we have made. These kits include a toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, deodorant, lotion, and a hair comb. When we have washcloths, we include them also. When we hand them out, either the school nurse or I meet with the student and teach them what each item is and how to use them. We have strategically been placing baby wipes at school to help students who are learning and practicing their personal hygiene skills.
This year I have been doing some home visits with families to teach them how to use a washing machine or dryer and give them some laundry detergent. We are handing out shoes, pants, socks, and underwear. We have also started to hand out some shoelaces. Our families that we are handing out shoes too; typically have size feet between 12Y - and 4 children. We are handing out socks of all sizes because some students have shoes but no socks. We have found that girl and boy pants sizes 7/8, and 5/6 we cannot keep them in stock with how fast we end up handing them out. We are handing out underwear in all sizes from 5T to adult large because some have pants but no underwear.
At Jefferson we talk about our JES WAYS (words matter, actions matter, you matter, and safety matters). At Jefferson not only do we talk about the JES WAYS, but we also believe in them. We show our students this by eliminating some of the factors that cause them distress. Thank you for helping us to eliminate some of those factors….
