A HOME WITH SCHOOLING
Yuri Cruz Flores and her four kids already had endured so much, fleeing violence-plagued El Salvador and journeying north through Guatemala and Mexico to find asylum in the United States. She was able to land a job, but after an illness, lost it and their apartment too.
She caught a break when Lifemoves, a Menlo Park-based nonprofit that helps homeless families in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties with shelter and services, put them up in its tidy Villa shelter in downtown San Jose in July, and she was able to find new work at a supermarket deli.
But with three of her four kids in school and already struggling to adjust to learning in a new, English-speaking country, they now faced not only the added upheaval of homelessness but the curveball of the coronavirus pandemic that has forced students into remote online classes.
“I work, so I can’t be here all day with them,” Flores, 32, said through an interpreter.
She said she is grateful to Lifemoves staff like Children’s Services Coordinator Marika Buchholz who have helped her children while she’s working. “I feel good because Marika is always here to make sure the kids are always in school and to help with the homework as well.”
Now the COVID-19 pandemic has put new pressures on the nonprofit, which relies on donations to fund its work.
“Since March, when the coronavirus closed schools and increased our clients’ sense of uncertainty, the children in our shelters have exhibited increased stress,” said Jeannie Leahy, Lifemoves’ grants director. “Many are having difficulty focusing on schoolwork. For students with learning differences and those who are non-native English speakers, the situation is even more difficult because they are not receiving the additional support typically provided by their schools.”