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My Place Summer Day Camp Helps Homeless Students
June 12, 2008 – For the third straight year, A Child's Place is operating My Place, its summer day camp for client children who don't have a real place to call home. The eleven week day camp runs from June 11 through August 22, and is held at the Druid Hills Elementary School. Licensed teachers from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools provide three hours of academic instruction each weekday for the rising 1st to 6th graders who attend the popular summer camp.
"We have 51 children attending camp this year, up from 32 last year", says Patrick Cline, summer camp site director. "That means more kids are able to receive valuable academic instruction and, like last year, we anticipate that they'll show increased academic growth by the end of our camp session in August."
In addition to receiving academic help, the children attending My Place work on service projects, such as a community cleanup, and they enjoy various enrichment activities including the arts, field trips, swimming lessons and more. Attendance at the summer camp is free, but each child's family must be working with A Child's Place to qualify. Because student enrollment at My Place continues to rise and operating expenses are increasing, the summer camp needs your help.
"These students are among our most academically fragile and they really need a safe learning environment with adult supervision during the summer," says Laurie Schwartz, development director at A Child's Place. "At the same time, we're challenged by the added expenses of rising program and transportation costs required to serve more children each year."
My Place summer camp is funded in part by donations from individual donors, Amdocs, the Speedway Children's Charities, and Second String Santas. In addition to financial support, the summer camp needs volunteers to assist with small group activities and art projects. They need people who can serve as lunch buddies or use their talents in other areas. If you want to share your time with the children at My Place summer camp, please contact Aimee Brunton, Volunteer and Community Resource Coordinator at A Child's Place, at 704.343.3790 ext. 9551, or abrunton@achildsplace.org.
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20% Increase In CMS - Number of homeless students
August 28, 2007 - The number of homeless children attending Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has increased 20 percent in the last year, a coalition of local social agencies said Monday. Officials identified 2,208 homeless students this school year, compared with 1,841 in 2006, the Homeless Services Network said.
The group released the figures along with results from its point-in-time homeless census count. Police, hospital staffers and advocates for the poor tried to identify the homeless population on July 26, 2007. They found:
• 3,037 people sleeping outside, in shelters, hospitals, abandoned buildings or transitional housing or facing imminent eviction. The group acknowledged the count understates the actual number of homeless in Charlotte, saying some homeless people are difficult to find. Officials estimate more than 5,000 people are homeless on a given night in Mecklenburg County.
• The survey found 609 homeless people in county jails, more than a fifth of the county's 2,779 inmates that night.
Fred Kelly
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2007 "Pack the Truck" School Supplies Drive Benefiting Homeless Students
August 17, 2007 -- WCNC, the Clear Channel radio stations and their advertisers are helping A Childs Place ensure Charlotte's homeless children started the new school year prepared! Donated supplies are still being collected and processed so final counts will be ready soon.
Viewers and listeners were invited to donate new school supplies in collection bins at area Big Lots stores and O'Charley's Restaurants during the early August promotion. For each dessert ordered during the same dates at Charlotte area O'Charley's Restaurants, the chain is donating $1 to A Child's Place to buy school uniforms and shoes.
ACP Executive Director Annabelle Suddrethsaid, "Charlotte area residents and businesses are so generous when they learn about a need. We appreciate WCNC and the Clear Channel radio stations for organizing this drive, their advertisers' help making it successful, and their viewers and listeners for responding so enthusiastically."
WCNC-TV and the Clear Channel radio stations promoted the "Pack the Truck" school supplies drive using on-air promotional spots and live, on-site broadcasts. Special thank you's are due to Greif Brothers for their donation of the collection bins for use in the Big Lots stores and to SmartBox for helping to pick up the donated school supplies.
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Oprah's "Favorite Gift" and ACP
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December 1, 2006 -- Four Charlotte women were in the audience for the Oct. 26th show taping when Oprah handed out her "favorite gift" -- the gift of generosity.
Audience members were each given a $1,000 Bank of America gift card, then directed to go home and experience for themselves the joy of giving and making a difference in others' lives. And so they did, helping two Charlotte homeless families establish homes of their own.
The Charlotte friends saw a TV news report the day after they returned home about the more 1,800 homeless children attending Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and immediately knew how they would use their cards. Under the rules, audience members could give the money to anyone except relatives, or split it among charities.
They contacted four local non-profit agencies that help the homeless -- A Child's Place (ACP), Crisis Assistance Ministry, Socialserve.com and A Way Home. The agencies collaborated to combine the $4,000 from Oprah with additional contributions of $5,000, furniture, food and other items to make homes for two homeless families. One family, living doubled up with friends, was already working with A Child's Place. The other family, previously known to one of the four friends, had been living in a van. They quickly became ACP clients.
Both families' ACP case plans are geared to ensure the stability of their homes long after the Oprah dollars are gone. The children are attending school regularly and are top students. A Child's Place social work staff will continue to monitor the families' progress and provide the resources necessary to minimize the impact of their homelessness on the children and their education.
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