Would it surprise you if I told you that the Minnesota Department of Education, as of October 1, has identified 231 homeless children in Rochester? Would it surprise you further if I told you that 37% of Rochester Public School (6600 students district wide) families qualify for free or reduced lunches? This means that in a classroom of 25 kids, 9 of them might have rumbly tummies because there isn’t enough to eat at home. If you walk down a typical elementary school hallway, there is a homeless student in every other classroom. Here. In your child’s school.
If your mama heart is anything like mine, those numbers are hard to hear. In our beautiful, vibrant community there are tummies and refrigerators that are empty. There are kids that don’t know where they are going to sleep tonight. There are other mamas out there that can’t do this alone. They need our help.
Years ago, I set out to purposefully shape my children’s mental image of the word “homeless.” I knew that I wanted them to really see what it meant to be homeless. I did not want their only understanding of the word to be equal to “panhandler,” because that is only part of the story. I wanted them to meet people, to share their journey and realize that our family was no different than these ones.
National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness week begins each year the week before Thanksgiving. It is a great time to start a conversation at home.
Four Steps to Increasing Awareness in Your Home
Step 1
Just talk to your kids. Tell them the numbers I’ve shared with you here. Is there a student in their classroom that is struggling? Introduce the idea that there might be a reason past what your child can see at school. Ask them to think wider than what they witness. Tell them a gesture of kindness is the first step. Children ages 5-8 are naturally curious and starting to notice the world around them. Make your message purposeful instead of incidental.
Step 2
Do an activity in your home that raises your awareness together. Rochester Public Schools recently put out a calendar that asks you to set aside a small amount of money each day based on resources your family has access to. (For instance, on November 1 you were supposed to put $1 in your “bank” if you have a working furnace.) At the end of the month, your family can donate your total amount of money to the charity of your choice. The calendar can be found here. Do not worry that you didn’t start on November 1! You can catch your “bank” up in a matter of minutes.
If you are feeling very adventurous, consider doing the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) challenge for a period of time. Many people attempt to do it for one week. For my family of 6, our maximum SNAP benefit in Minnesota would be $925 per month. This breaks down to roughly $5 per person, per day. To do the SNAP challenge, I would attempt to eat and drink each day spending no more than my $5. (It is worth noting that this is above the national average of $4.44 per day.)
Step 3
Do an activity outside of your home that raises your awareness together. There are many wonderful organizations here in Rochester providing support services to families experiencing homelessness and hunger. They could use your help. It can be a bit of a challenge to find one that fit my personal criteria – being able to bring my young children along. I wanted our volunteering to be a family experience. Below are a few that allow children of all ages to volunteer with their parents:
Family Promise Rochester – Your family can volunteer in many capacities. You can make a meal and eat with families. You can spend an evening together playing with kids, helping with homework, cleaning up from dinner – all the normal activities of family life!
Channel One Family Days – For much of the year requires volunteers to be over the age of 10, but each month they offer Family Volunteer days during which your entire family can serve together.
Community Food Response is a volunteer-led nonprofit that provides free meals for hungry people to take home or eat elsewhere. They welcome volunteers of all ages to help hand out these meals.
Salvation Army Rochester has many, many opportunites. This is a great time of year to consider signing up for a shift ringing bells for the Red Kettle Campaign. 80% off all funds collected at the Red Kettle goes directly to help fund the Salvation Army’s efforts here in Rochester.
Step 4
Contact your local legislators. Need a lesson on American government and want to make others aware of your concerns? Share your family’s new knowledge with your local legislator, and tell them we want the number of homeless students in Rochester to be ZERO! Advocate for your local officials to prioritize affordable housing in city planning, and be a voice for those who are overlooked. We can start by telling our City Council members how important this is for our community. You can find their contact information here.
Do you have more ideas, experiences or organizations that allow families to volunteer together? Please share!
