The gift of support
Nonprofit makes sure kids going through hard times knowthey are remembered at holidays
Starting around his sophomore year at Conroe High School, Jeremy Robles became homeless.
“I never told anyone because I wasn’t comfortable with telling people,” he said. But his feelings changed when he opened up to the staff at the high school and they paired him with the Communities in Schools program.
Communities In Schools is a nonprofit organization that works to help at-risk students stay in school and supports them along the way. CIS representatives serve at several Conroe ISD campuses.
When Robles was in school, he also learned of a holiday drive that presented gifts to students in hard situations.
“This program made me feel very welcomed and helped me as a person, also it taught me that there are great people out there that actually care about you and that you are not alone,” Robles said.
He went on to graduate in 2020 and is now in the U.S. Army as a military police officer.
And he’s so glad to see that other students are benefiting from the program again this year.
OnWednesday and Thursday, gift drive volunteers and representatives from CIS presented gifts to 148 students in Peet and Stockton junior high schools, and to students at Conroe High School and at Conroe High’s 9th grade campus.
The drive started five years ago with Kelly Miller in Conroe. She wanted to show her junior-high age son that there are things out there bigger than him.
“There are homeless children in the schools that they don’t even know about,” she said. “They’re just trying to be normal.”
They started by contacting the nurse and counselor at the school who provided nine names of students in need. What she couldn’t purchase herself she had help with from friends. That support system has now grown to 75 supporters of the gift drive.
The program grew from 30 students to 56 students and this year served 148 students.
Miller has a special heart for older students because she doesn’t want them to be forgotten.
“I just want these kids to know that people care about them,” she said. “The kids don’t even care what the gifts are, they just love being remembered.”
She said she’s seen the need grow with this year’s pandemic.
Students have asked for food and for their parents to be happy more than ever before this year.
“If you’re blessed, then you’re supposed to be a blessing,” she said. “It just hurts your heart because these are good kids and they didn’t ask for this.”
A Conroe High School student said she’s excited and grateful to receive these gifts. She said CIS support has helped her be a better student and better athlete.
It makes Robles very happy to see that so many students have been helped by this program.
“I hope in the future that this program grows bigger and bigger and more people participate in helping out,” he said.
For more information about the program, go to communitiesinschools.org, or contact Trezlyn Randall, the CIS program coordinator, at trezlyn.lambrandall@cisetx.org.