MANSFIELD — Eric Bascom has transported students to and from school for 12 years.
A bus driver for Mansfield City Schools, he’s seen first-hand the need some students and their families face.
“Some places you go downtown, you really feel sorry for some people,” said Bascom, sitting in the driver’s seat of Bus #18.
School won’t start for a few more weeks, but Bascom spent Monday morning parked at Sluss Realty. Instead of ushering students, he sat and watched as community members loaded bags of donated school supplies, toys, personal hygiene and house cleaning items onto the bus.
Sluss Realty partnered with Mansfield City Schools for its 2nd Annual “Stuff the Bus” event this week. The donation drive benefits the district’s S.A.F.E. program, which serves unhoused students and their families.
The S.A.F.E. program is a collaborative effort between the district, local shelters and the community. It is funded primarily through the McKinney-Vento Act, but Kern said donations from the community have become more prevalent during the last few years.
“Sluss Realty is always looking for different ways to give back,” said Jami Kinton-Sluss, the real estate agency’s marketing director.
“When I went into the district and asked them how can we help, they said one of the biggest programs in need is the S.A.F.E. program.”
“Many of these families are doubling up, but then what happens when the landlord hears and evicts them?” she said. “Now two families are without housing.”
Barbara Kern, Mansfield City Schools S.a.f.e. Liaison
Families are eligible to receive extra educational services and other support through S.A.F.E. if they lack a “fixed, regular and adequate nighttime residence.”
“When we talk about homelessness, it doesn’t mean they’re living under a bridge,” said S.A.F.E liaison Barb Kern. “They’re in a motel or hotel, which a lot of our local churches are amazing at supplying funding for.
“Many of these children are couch surfing, so the public doesn’t think that they are housing insecure because they’re not wandering the streets — but they need just as much help.”
Last year, the program identified 364 homeless students. About 90 percent of them were living “doubled up” due to financial hardship. Kern said this puts families in a vulnerable and stressful position.
“Many of these families are doubling up, but then what happens when the landlord hears and evicts them?” she said. “Now two families are without housing.”
Miss Ontario Jaslyn Lopez helped sort through donated markers and Dawn dish soap in the empty bus. The donated items will be delivered to the “Tyger Den,” a room inside the board of education office where S.A.F.E. families can come and select the items they need.
Bascom called the donations a blessing.
“When you get little kids get on, their shirts are dirty and they don’t have something, you know stuff’s going to help,” he said.
The seats were nearly full by the end of the day Monday, despite the drizzling weather.
“Last year we had the radio station here, a food truck and the sun,” Kern said. “Today we have the rain, the radio station couldn’t be out today and the food truck couldn’t be out. But the bus looks filled the same way it was last year. It’s unbelievable the response we got.”
Additional donations to the S.A.F.E. program can be dropped off at the Mansfield City Schools board of education office at 856 West Cook Road. For more information about the S.A.F.E. program, click here.
