MANSFIELD, Ohio — Louise Yochheim, Mansfield Senior High School secretary and Student Achievement through Family Engagement (SAFE) co-coordinator, stood astounded by the number of donations that were dropped off at the school Monday afternoon to help homeless students.
Over 200 items, including a variety of hygiene products, along with monetary donations, were given to help support the approximately 190 students at Mansfield City Schools who have been identified as homeless.
As part of the SAFE program, Yochheim, SAFE co-coordinator Phil Mitchell and SAFE educational liaison for the district Betsy Alexander apply for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Children and Youth Program grant, which helps homeless children by paying for their school supplies, lunches and other approved activities.
Yochheim noted that the grant is geared strictly toward education, “so this is really going to help the kids with other needs that they have, like hygiene, clothing, etc.,” she said while pointing to all of the donations.
Monday’s donation drive was spearheaded by WMFD’s Brigitte Coles, who helped launch the Mend Mansfield Coalition.
The issue of homelessness affecting many students at Mansfield City Schools was brought up during one of the Mend Mansfield Coalition meetings. And after reading a recent article in the Mansfield News Journal about this issue, “That’s when we got things rolling to help make a difference,” she said.
She presented a challenge to all of her Facebook friends, asking them in a recent post to drop off donations at Mansfield Senior High School on Monday.
The challenge was met with great enthusiasm. Chris Elswick, a Mansfield City Schools Board of Education member, donated the remaining funds of his Mansfield City Council campaign to the cause. His father, Jack Elswick, and father-in-law, Ron Davis, also made a monetary donation. Many others stopped by and gave Yochheim cash and/or items for the students.
“I’m so happy with the response,” Coles said. “We have a wonderful community and what was so important to me was that I wanted the students to know that people out there care about them and we love them.”
Those affected by homelessness at Mansfield City Schools, Superintendent Brian Garverick said, “are not people living under a bridge or on the streets. It’s kids and families who are living under the roof of perhaps a friend or a relative, but they are displaced out of their own home. So we have children who sleep on couches, who come to school hungry and things of that nature. So this is just a fantastic outreach to these kids and families in Mansfield City Schools.”
Rev. Derek Williams said on behalf of the Mend Mansfield Coalition, “This is the tip of the iceberg of what we want to do pertaining to making sure that our children are safe and our children have somewhere to live,” he said. “This is just the beginning of dwindling that number down from 200+ to zero, and we can’t sleep until we change that number.”
“We invite anybody else who wants to donate. We have an account set up. It doesn’t just have to be just today,” said Chris Elswick. “It’s a very worthwhile project and we hope that everybody will reach out and help.”
Yochheim said that a pantry is going to be set up at the Raemelton Administrative Office Building at 856 W. Cook Road in Mansfield, where people can continue to make donations for students in need. People may also call her at 419-525-6369, ext. 61001 for more information on how to donate.
“It’s kids and families who are living under the roof of perhaps a friend or a relative, but they are displaced out of their own home. So we have children who sleep on couches, who come to school hungry…” Brian Garverick said.
