Communities In Schools of Henry County Answers the Call

Back in March of this year I received an email from Susan, the Executive Director at Connecting Henry, Inc. She had just received a phone call from a grandmother who was trying very hard to get some assistance for a close relative in need of basic services.  Susan and I have an agreement. If she gets a request from a family with a child in a Middle School, she can reach out to us to see if we already have that child on our caseload.  There’s no sense in duplicating efforts when we can work together to accomplish a common goal.   

We called the grandmother and after speaking with her for a few minutes, learned that her daughter, son-in-law and their 13 year old son were having some major challenges. Grandma was deeply concerned about her grandson and his performance in school because of the challenges he and his family were facing.  His grades were starting to slip and his behavior at school was starting to become a matter for concern.  

I immediately emailed the Graduation Coach* at Luella Middle School and explained the situation, and then I contacted the Mom to ask if I could stop by the house to chat and to find out how we can help.  She agreed, and the next day I was sitting in her living room learning more about the family’s situation. She shared with me that when her husband was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, their whole world was turned upside down with multiple trips to a specialist in Atlanta, radiation treatments, and chemotherapy; all contributing to additional costs and escalated levels of stress and anxiety for everyone.  To make matters worse, their HVAC system which was repaired last year stopped working, and with very little financial resources available, they had no choice but to reach out to the community for assistance.  It was difficult for her to ask for help, she explained, because she and her husband have always been self-reliant and they weren't accustomed to asking for outside assistance.  She shared with me that she felt guilty about asking others for help because she knew that there were other people with bigger problems and greater needs out there. And that’s why she allowed her mother to make the phone calls to local churches and organizations.

Upon receiving our email, the Graduation Coach sent home a CIS Parent Permission Form to the family and placed the young man on her Backpack Buddies Program**.  She also started to check in on him on a regular basis to make sure he was in good spirits and to also assure him that someone in the school building cared about him.  

The second thing we did was to reach out to Steve Nail of Nail Heating and Air Conditioning and asked him if he could look into the HVAC situation. Anyone who knows Steve knows that he is always willing to jump in and assist no matter what the task. Steve sent out one of his tech guys who did an assessment and concluded that the HVAC unit had a faulty circuit board.  They replaced the part at no cost to the family.

 “The family’s appreciation for our help was touching. We received a card in the mail from them expressing their gratitude and appreciation for our help. It is such an awesome feeling at Nail Heating and Air to help a family in need and look forward to working with Shane and Communities In Schools on other projects”. ~ Steve Nail, Owner of Nail Heating & Air Conditioning.

Our Mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. CIS works within the public school system,determining student needs and finding them the necessary resources to succeed inside and outside the classroom. We create community partnerships with folks like Steve to provide support to our case managed students in a holistic way. Granted,we cannot do this for every single student, but we will make every effort to come up with a solution that works. On a side note, Steve Nail is one of our newest Board Member and we are delighted to have him on board to share in our mission. He "gets it".

Recently our staff had a chance to meet with Mom at our office to see how things were going.  She brought her son at our request so we could meet him and have a conversation. She couldn't thank us enough for the assistance she has gotten so far and prays that her husband comes out of his cancer treatments successfully and can eventually get back to work and the family can get back to a level of normalcy in their lives. 

I wish we could increase our coverage to help more students who face these risk factors on a daily basis. I wish we had more funds and resources to expand into the high schools and elementary schools that need our Integrated Student Supports (ISS) model the most. Should you or your business be interested  in learning more about CIS and the work we are doing please don't hesitate to send us an email or call to set up an appointment. We encourage you to volunteer, donate or become a Community Partner. Becoming a tutor, a mentor or even an intern/assistant to our office staff or Graduation Coaches will give us the ability to do more. We are located at 330 E. Tomlinson Street, Room 418 (EXCEL Academy), McDonough GA 30252. (678) 432-4499. info@cis-henry.org.

                                                                     

 Communities In Schools of Henry Co. - Affiliate Staff                                               

                                                                                                                    

* Communities In Schools (CIS) is the United States' largest dropout prevention organization. CIS positions a dedicated staff member – a school-based coordinator or a reassigned Graduation Coach – inside partner schools. In this pivotal role, the coordinator works with school staff to identify students at risk of not graduating. He or she assesses school and student needs and establishes relationships with local businesses, social service agencies, health care providers, and parent and volunteer organizations to harness needed resources. Whether it’s tutoring, eyeglasses or just a safe place to be after school, when these needs are met, students can concentrate on learning.

** During the school year, the Backpack Buddies Program provides vulnerable children with a bag of “child-friendly” food that is discreetly placed in their backpacks on Friday afternoons with enough food to last them through the weekend. This program works with the school counselors and social workers to identify children that are already on the free/reduced lunch program with the school and are also coming in to school hungry on Monday mornings. The program is volunteer-driven with different groups at churches and civic groups adopting a school and committing to delivering the packed bags each week.