Hawks Nest
There is a cartoon that has gone viral in the teaching community. Maybe you’ve seen it: It shows a child carrying large bags labeled with various challenges—hunger, illness, homelessness. It reads, “Could someone help me with these? I’m late for math class.”
Most of us understand at first glance what it represents. Every student comes to us on the first day of school with baggage of their own. The loads they carry vary in shape and size, and sadly, some carry too heavy a load. Before a student can remember, understand and apply what they’re learning, their physiological needs, such as shelter, food and clothing must be met, and they must feel that they are safe, loved and that they belong.
Thus begins the Hawks Nest, Ryan’s care closet aimed at providing children with the necessary items they need in order to make sure their needs are being met so that they can be successful learners.
A church, Northwest Vineyard, has stepped up to fund the initial closet set up, and then we will be looking for donations to keep up with the demand as we begin to understand the needs of our population more.
Current Care Closet Needs:
At this point we have found the needs of the community are best served by providing nutritious snacks for students. There has been a huge demand recently because of high rates of food instability and sky rocketing food costs, more and more students are coming to school without a snack for the day. Many Ryan students have utilized the famous snack drawer at some point in their school year, which has helped de- stigmatize the need to utilize it for kids who may have felt uncomfortable because of their necessity to rely on it.
Donations of nutritionally dense snacks such as beef jerky, fruit, apple sauce, packaged yogurt or monetary donations are greatly appreciated.
Thank you!!!