Houston Chronicle

Homeless kids get school supplies

Children get backpacks filled with learning necessitie­s; agencies offer their services

- By Madlin Mekelburg

Six-year-old Dorian Beasley proudly displayed the school supplies and two “fun-sized” cereal boxes he picked up at Friday’s “Back-to-School Extravagan­za,” his face beaming the entire time.

“I’m having a lot of fun,” he said. “I want to go back to school because I want to learn more.”

The soon-to-be first-grader who loves math and dreams of becoming a police officer came with his grandmothe­r, Catherine Owens, to the event organized by HISD’s Homeless Education Office. Together they surveyed rows of tables set up at the Bethel Empowermen­t Center in southwest Houston featuring food and clothing donations as well as informatio­n from nonprofit groups and government agencies.

Ilka Rosado, an outreach worker with the Houston Independen­t School District, said families were lined up outside of the center as early as 9:30 a.m. for the noon event where school officials and groups from the community provided shoes, school supplies and immunizati­ons to students in need. Rosado said the event is held annually on the Friday before school starts to help the thousands of disadvanta­ged students in Houston get prepared.

“We do this right before back to school to try and get families resources like backpacks, supplies anything else,” she said. “The need is great. People are willing to come from all over the district and they’re willing to wait in line to get whatever they can to help their children. That just lets you know our community has a lot of need and we’re trying to help any way we can.”

On Friday, the help came from government agencies and from Houston businesses. Fiesta Mart donated cakes and pies to be raffled throughout the day, a group from Texas A&M University shared informatio­n about proper car seat safety and entities pooled together to supply 1,000 backpacks filled with notebooks, pencils, crayons and folders.

“Every year it’s so stressful to put this together, but when it comes together it’s amazing,” said Lisa Jackson, homeless liaison for the Homeless Education Office. “Whether they are homeless or not, we wanted to make sure we’re reaching out to everyone

who may be economical­ly disadvanta­ged and say, these are the services in your community or in the city of Houston.”

Silvestre Ocampo, an education outreach coordinato­r with ABC Dental, sat at a brightly decorated table and shared advice with students and parents about how to property clean their teeth. He also gave out free toothbrush­es.

Angel Ponce, a customer service representa­tive with the city of Houston, told families about services available for the disabled in Houston. Standing behind a table covered in pink, former nurse and breast cancer survivor Carolyn Montgomery gave out pamphlets and instructed girls about how to conduct self breast exams.

While the event helped connect families to community resources and ensure students had the appropriat­e supplies for the upcoming school year, it also gave the Homeless Education Office the opportunit­y to establish a more accurate number of how many homeless students attend school in Houston ISD.

“Once students arrive here and we are able to identify them as homeless after they fill out a form we’ve give them, we follow up with them at our office,” Rosado said. “We provide uniforms and things like that, really any kind of support and guidance that students need.”

Rosado said her office identified more than 6,000 homeless youths in HISD schools during the last school year, a number she suspects is much lower than the actual amount. Jackson said many families who fit the legal descriptio­n of “homeless” do not consider themselves to be that, so they miss out on the services the office provides.

“Often times families will think, ‘I have a roof over my head, I’m not homeless’,” Jackson said. “But if you’re doubled up and it’s not your residence, you are homeless.”

Owens, Beasley’s grandmothe­r, said the event helped her feel more connected with the community.

“I’m very appreciati­ve,” she said. “I just want everybody to be blessed and have a good time and get what they need. There’s a lot of families in need and that’s what this event is all about.”

 ?? Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle ?? Siblings Rigoberto Romeo, 10, left, Aaliyah Romeo, 6, Angela Romeo, 9, and Hugo Romeo, 4, right, receive backpacks during the fourth annual Back-to-School Extravagan­za at Bethel’s Place Empowermen­t Center on Friday in Houston.
Melissa Phillip / Houston Chronicle Siblings Rigoberto Romeo, 10, left, Aaliyah Romeo, 6, Angela Romeo, 9, and Hugo Romeo, 4, right, receive backpacks during the fourth annual Back-to-School Extravagan­za at Bethel’s Place Empowermen­t Center on Friday in Houston.

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