EDITOR’S NOTE: The Friends of McCallum is hosting a clothes swap in the cafeteria from 3:30-7:30 p.m. on Friday Oct. 21 and 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday Oct. 22.
Friends of McCallum Students committed to helping students in need
According to McCallum parent Stephanie Savage, who chairs the group Friends of McCallum Students, there were 34 homeless students and eight emancipated minors on campus last year, and almost one third of these students were on free and reduced lunch.
Half of the 12 schools that feed into McCallum are Title One Schools, meaning that more than half of students at feeder schools are considered economically disadvantaged. Last year, McCallum parent Kristen Knifton saw that the school was in constant need of donations to fund bus passes for students who otherwise couldn’t afford them.
To address this need, she formed a group of parents who were interested in ameliorating poverty at McCallum. They named the group, Friends of McCallum Students. This committee partners with the school’s social worker Brooke Anderson to try and meet the needs of disadvantaged students and their families at McCallum and throughout its vertical team.
The majority of the Friends of McCallum budget funds bus passes, which are given to about 75 students a month. They also provide supermarket gift cards and emergency financial assistance to families in need.
So far this year, they’ve already received three requests for financial aid.
The group provides care packages for students who need support, snacks for hungry students (distributed by the counselors, the social worker and security officers). It also fulfills “one-time” needs such as buying a new laptop or covering graduation fees.
The Friends of McCallum event took place at 10,000 Villages. Parents, students, teachers, and administrators showed up to show support for McCallum’s fundraising opportunity. Donations go towards helping less privileged McCallum students succeed at school by providing things like city-bus passes. Photo by Nadia Freeman.
In addition to this assistance, the group runs programs such as Pantry to Schools (where food from the food pantry is delivered directly to Title One schools in McCallum’s vertical team), and events such as the Benefit Shopping Night at Ten Thousand Villages, the school supply and holiday gift drives, and the upcoming clothes swap on Oct. 21 and 22. Most recently the charity held a fundraiser at Pinthouse Pizza that raised $1,440 to address the needs of the students and families that Friends of McCallum supports.
Savage said that seeing the direct impact of her work and knowing that she’s making a difference is very rewarding. She added that seeing the community rally around the organization and being supported by so many people has also been an amazing experience.
“Besides raising my son, I think that it’s the most important thing that I do,” Savage said.
Junior Roxy Smith also felt the power of coordinated community service after volunteering for the Friends of McCallum School Supplies Drive last year.
“It felt really good to know that the people we were helping were so grateful and happy,” she said. “I didn’t know how many school supplies were needed at those elementary schools.”
According to Savage, the biggest challenge they’ve faced yet is a shortage of volunteers. There’s just too much work to be done and not enough manpower.
“There are people at this school who can’t go home and know where they’ll sleep the next night and that’s a huge problem,” said senior Mitchell Wright who volunteered at the Friends of McCallum Benefit Shopping Night fundraiser last year. “If there’s more people involved, then at least it lets the people affected know that people are there to help them and that they care.”
Savage says students, parents, teachers, and community members all are equals in the organization. Two of the committee members aren’t McCallum parents and one of them doesn’t even have kids; she’s just a person who cares about their cause.
Savage says that even if you don’t have time to volunteer, you can still donate to the cause.
Friends of McCallum is launching an email distribution list to get the word out concerning upcoming events or any resources they might need.
If you are a parent or student who is interested in volunteering either as part of a group you belong to or as an individual (and yes, you can get NHS volunteer hours for this), contact Stephanie Savage at [email protected] or go to the website for more information.
