Bear Closet helping students in need
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by Trinity Gruenberg
Life can take an unexpected turn and adversely affect a family, whether it’s the loss of a job, illness or disaster. These things are out of the control of children and can make it difficult to obtain necessities such as shoes or food.
The Bertha-Hewitt School has incorporated a new way to help students that are experiencing a hardship.
“Staff members have always been on the lookout for students and families who need extra help. As a staff, we used to take care of things as they came to our attention, which meant there was some lag time between when we identified a need and when the student received help. Our goal is to have things in place so students receive what they need immediately. Student needs include unexpected events such as a death in the family, loss of a parent’s job, divorce or fire. Some students have ongoing chronic needs due to an illness in the family, loss of work, or low income – all things out of the students’ control,” said Meg Schuller. . . .