A week ago, the father of a student I had last year had a sudden massive heart attack and died. He leaves behind his wife and four young children. The family emigrated to the U.S. less than a year ago. This man worked two jobs and his wife worked a job as well. As you can imagine, none of these jobs payed well or carried benefits, and they were just getting by.
On the day he died, the parents were at school for parent-teacher conferences (which they probably took off from work to attend) and expressed their desire for the children to do well in school.
Right now the family's immediate concern is paying funeral expenses and transporting the man's body to Mexico for burial. Beyond that, there is the ongoing great need for groceries, warm clothing, money for rent and heating, and other living expenses. If you have some spare money, or earmark money for charitable giving around the holidays, and you would like to contribute something to this family in crisis, could you let me know, either in the comments or via email? I would be happy to send you an address where funds can be sent.
Thank you.
Just a note: At my school, where the number of students receiving free and reduced hot lunch -- a common indicator of poverty -- tops 70%, each year several families lose a parent to death. This is just one more fact of life when you are poor. As a nation, can't we do better than this and shouldn't we be demanding this from political candidates and representatives?
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7 comments:
Email me the address, ok?
Hello
I was referred to your blog by a suzi-k of south africa, who also is a frequent reader of your blog! Apparently she told me that your ideas are similar to mine. Anyways, here's my two cents. The school lunch is a good indicator of poverty.Having lived in two completely different kinds of school districts socioeconomically, i know exactly what you're talking about. I don't know...it's not that practical if the govt simply doles out money to poorer families. I think that there needs to be some kind of long term incentive for the parents to be more invested in their children's education. The child's environment it so important after all. A bad family structure...does not entail a good future for the child..on a random note, want to be friends
Jan, I will, on Monday. Thank you.
New Destination, actually some of the most cost effective programs have been entitlements: For every dollar spent on WIC (women, infants and children) I believe $5 is saved in the long run on health care, education, etc. The other highly successful and cost effective program that comes to mind is AFDC (Aid For Families With Dependent Children.) That one was ended in the early nineties by the Clinton administration. It really rankled with some people that poor people got something for nothing without having to work for it. The truth was, it enabled parents -- mostly mothers -- to stay home with their preschool-aged children. Ending AFDC pushed parents into low-paying jobs with no benefits and forced them to put their children into substandard child care. The stereotypical welfare queen was a myth; in fact, the average length of time spent receiving AFDC was under 7 years.
As a teacher, I can tell you that I have met next to no parents who are not invested in their children's education. I have met many many parents who are exhausted from working multiple jobs and trying to get by, or who suffer all of the social ills that accompany poverty.
Families were better off, in my opinion, when they received aid from the government.
I emailed you but just send the info so I can add to this.
Thanks Suzy.
Suzy, email me the info.
I am in the process of going through our old clothes. If they have little girls in need of winter clothing, please let me know that, too. Rather than send things on to Goodwill, I can send things to them directly.
Please send an address to jolly.p.roger [at] reconstitution.us. I don't have a whole lot to throw around, but I'll send what I can.
cdaltonpak@yahoo.com...please email me the address. Thanks
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