Schools work with homeless students

Andrew James, 16, rode his skateboard to the Gleason Complex four years ago to help make fruit baskets to give to families of homeless students in the Carson City School District.

"My mom told me about it," James said. "I told some of my friends about it and they wanted to come with me."

He was back this year to make Thanksgiving baskets and brought along more of his friends.

"There are families that can't afford a big meal and everything," said Kirkwood Harris, 16, a friend of James. "This helps them out so they can have an enjoyable Thanksgiving."

The Thanksgiving baskets are one of many projects sponsored by the Children in Transition Program in the school district.

The program works with 363 students in the district who are in transition - children who live in hotels, motels, campgrounds, cars, shelters or are doubling up with another family qualify for the program.

Kim Riggs, director of the program, said she works with agencies, including the Ron Wood Family Resource Center, Friends in Service Helping and Advocates to End Domestic Violence to coordinate services for families without permanent housing.

The program also provides clothing and school supplies for children who lack necessities.

Riggs said the high point of her job is working with the children.

"It's great to see them smile," she said. "They just radiate when they see that someone cares about them."

It is also rewarding for Riggs to work with members of the community.

"There are people who you don't solicit but they just call out of the blue to see if they can help," she said.

It's a difficult job, too.

"It breaks my heart when parents don't take their responsibility seriously," Riggs said. "Also seeing the children hurt and not being able to help them because it's a bigger problem than giving them a book or a jacket."

Critical to the success of the program is participation by officials at each of the school sites.

Marena Works, the nurse at Carson High School, said she is always watching for children who seem to be in need so that she can refer them to Riggs.

"We work together with her to figure out who is out there and who is in need," Works said. "We work at it one piece at a time."

Pat Lutz, counselor at Fritsch Elementary, said homeless children are often characterized by being sleepy and distracted because of hunger and other problems.

She said some families who live in motels and other temporary homes are committed to building strong families and focusing on education, but for the most part they are not.

"I can just see the cycle with the children continuing on because they don't see how other people work and stay in one place," Lutz said. "I wish there were more programs to help."

Carol McQuirk, guidance counselor at Carson Middle School, said covering the students' basic needs is a top priority.

However, the families typically move often. Still, McQuirk said, the donations are never wasted.

"We do everything we can to can for however long we have the kids," she said. "If they leave with what we've given to them, more power to them. They have more to take with them."

McQuirk said community support is especially important during the holiday season when parents are barely paying the bills and cannot afford any extras.

"The Nugget has been a godsend for many of our families," McQuirk said. Slips of paper explaining the free turkey dinner served at the Carson Nugget were included in the 140 fruit baskets prepared for the families for Thanksgiving.

You can help:

To donate gloves, coats, hats or other items to the Children in Transition program call Kim Riggs at 885-6294.

The Carson City School District defines homeless as those living in motels, hotels, cars, motor homes, families that are doubling up or children who are sent to live with family members because their parents can't support them.

There are 363 such children in the Carson City School district.

In Washoe County, there were 915 last year with no official count for this year.