is this good re parks and school supplies?

[nodak3]

What do you think?

Our area usually collects school supplies for kids that cannot afford them, and gives them away right before school starts.

Our town is really hurting $$wise and is not able to maintain public areas such as parks and schoolgrounds as well as in the past.

Suggestion has been made families come to those areas on a designated cleanup day, donate an hour of cleanup time, and receive a voucher to pick up those school supplies.

That way the areas get cleaned up, families get a chance to do something positive together, and kids get the supplies.

[StephanieH]

I think it is a great idea. We do the same sort of things for kids in our youth group who can not afford some of the trips. They help out at the church on work days, or on other projects.

[AngieM2]

Neat idea, IF scheduling is considered for those that work and especially those that have low paying jobs but must be at the job.

Could children do the work? or could someone do work, accumulate hours and designate those volunteer hours for someone that cannot or does not have someone to represent them?

Angie

[Mid Tn Mama]

I think it is a good idea, however, what I see is that many kids' home lives are sooo terribly messed up that even though free supplies are in the office, their parent will not get the supplies for them.

[clovis]

Bad idea in my opinion, and one that will be designed to fail, even before it starts.

The problem is that lots of these folks will be unable to make a scheduled time due to work constraints, lack of transportation, child care obligations, etc.

And what dignity could be held by those in need and struggling? "Let's get 'em out and make 'em work since they are poor" could be the attitude surrounding this project.

Before you know it, there will be a whole group of 'do-gooders' and extremist nuts lording over those folks needing supplies. And those lunitics will continue on with their hate filled message that the poor are too lazy to work.

When I was growing up in the 70's, the kids that got free lunches were required, when needed, to help in the serving line or with lunch trays. This was a great way to single those kids out, who happened to be born to people that were poor. Every kid and teacher in that school knew who got free lunches.

It shouldn't matter who gets free lunches or school supplies. Just give with a giving heart.

If the program or idea is billed incorrectly, you will do nothing but punish the working poor as well as the poor.

So, even if you get the program off the ground, what mother of 5 is going to feel like volunteering at the park for a few hours, after working a 9 hour shift at Taco Bell making your bean burritos all day long? Those folks have more on their plate than is often realized.

Your efforts would be better used by starting a reading club, math club, science club for at risk students, and then volunteer with those kids at the park. With this idea, you help change a child for life. With the other idea, you just make life more difficult on those needing a hand up.

In closing, the plan sounds like a total and complete disaster just waiting to happen. I seriously doubt anyone really shows up. I wouldn't. Not for a 19 cent bottle of glue and a handful of the 7 cent folders.

Clove

[nodak3]

Clovis: this isn't any form of government plan. To address the issues you brought up:

We have transportation covered via public trans.

We would schedule on a Saturday for one day and on a weekday for another to try an allow as many as possible to participate.

The packages the seniors in this town usually give away are $35-40 packages of nice supplies.

We have volunteers to cover the kids who's parents are slackers, those who cannot due to job, or are in ill health.

In short, the folks making the offer have no obligation whatsoever to give out one sheet of paper. No one owes these kids or their families anything. Any conditions the givers put on can be ended simply by not taking the supplies.

But we have a lot of laid off oil field workers here this year. These are hard working folks that wouldn't dream of taking one thin dime of charity. They would likely relish a chance to earn what they need.

Last month our downtown was cleaned up by everyone working together. Store owners cannot afford the maintenance in this economy. City is cutting back hours. So our town got together and made a way for everyone, rich and poor, to participate.

I must say your judgemental attitude towards our seniors here is insulting. They could just take their money to a casino and have a good time. Instead they want to help the kids and the town.

Now what in the world is wrong with teaching kids that if you work you have nice stuff? Or offering a way for families to pull together?

Not every community buys into the "gimme I deserve it" mentallity.

I, too, grew up poor. Our whole town was under the poverty line. Our income for two last year was less than $10,000. We are not and never have been poor people. We work, we barter, we make, we make do, and we have our dignity. Not a bad achievement. I see nothing wrong with instilling pride in children by letting them provide something for themselves rather than waiting for charity.

But perhaps it is just our western cowboy attitude showing. Here we expect everyone to cowboy up.

[clovis]

Originally Posted by nodak3

Clovis: this isn't any form of government plan. To address the issues you brought up:

We have transportation covered via public trans.

We would schedule on a Saturday for one day and on a weekday for another to try an allow as many as possible to participate.

The packages the seniors in this town usually give away are $35-40 packages of nice supplies.

We have volunteers to cover the kids who's parents are slackers, those who cannot due to job, or are in ill health.

In short, the folks making the offer have no obligation whatsoever to give out one sheet of paper. No one owes these kids or their families anything. Any conditions the givers put on can be ended simply by not taking the supplies.

But we have a lot of laid off oil field workers here this year. These are hard working folks that wouldn't dream of taking one thin dime of charity. They would likely relish a chance to earn what they need.

Last month our downtown was cleaned up by everyone working together. Store owners cannot afford the maintenance in this economy. City is cutting back hours. So our town got together and made a way for everyone, rich and poor, to participate.

I must say your judgemental attitude towards our seniors here is insulting. They could just take their money to a casino and have a good time. Instead they want to help the kids and the town.

Now what in the world is wrong with teaching kids that if you work you have nice stuff? Or offering a way for families to pull together?

Not every community buys into the "gimme I deserve it" mentallity.

I, too, grew up poor. Our whole town was under the poverty line. Our income for two last year was less than $10,000. We are not and never have been poor people. We work, we barter, we make, we make do, and we have our dignity. Not a bad achievement. I see nothing wrong with instilling pride in children by letting them provide something for themselves rather than waiting for charity.

But perhaps it is just our western cowboy attitude showing. Here we expect everyone to cowboy up.

I was not being judgemental. Not in the least. I am sorry you percieved that to be the case.

Too many times in my life I have seen great theories and ideas turned into monstrosities. Too often the poor and working poor get kicked around unfairly.

Much of my perception comes from the fact that my own mother worked in a school system. My mother is a saint and is empathetic to the struggles of the needy.

Yet, after years of being in that enviroment, I became accustomed to hearing arrogant teachers verbally trash the poor kids in school, and make life tough for them however they could.

Just last Friday I ran into the retired principal of my school, 150 miles away from home, and he is just as arrogant today as he was 20 years ago. He was hard on anyone he deemed beneath him, which was anyone that needed a haircut, wore poor folk's clothing, weren't active in sports, or didn't carry a degree from an Ivy League school.

I reckon folks in your area aren't like that, and I am not being smart when I say that. I am just speaking from my area and of the rift between the have and have nots. Lots of areas in America stand taller than that.

You should ignore what I said, and work your plan however you want.

Clove

[DaleK]

Sounds only moderately better than what happens here which is....

Every child gets a list before school starts of what supplies they "need" to have for the start of school (this starts in Grade 1).

When the child takes their supplies to school, the teacher takes them and puts them in the "class" supply closet.

The "class" supplies are then given out as needed through the year on a first-come, first-served basis. When they run out, the teacher sends notes home telling parents that "their" child has used all their supplies even though these supplies were actually used largely by the children who didn't bring any.

End result being that the parents who are involved in their childs education end up paying not only for supplies their children use, but for those used by other children whose parents can't be bothered (and it's usually not financial, we've noticed the children in my daughter's class who don't bother bringing supplies tend to be from families making at least twice as much as we do).

We only fell for this once. Now she takes things from home as needed and not from the "class" supplies.

[TurnerHill]

Well, you asked what people think.

I don't like it, not a bit.

By all means, have the work day.

And by all means, provide the materials for the needy kids.

But don't connect the two.

Don't stigmatize the kids. And that's what this would do.

[Cashs Cowgirl]

Originally Posted by TurnerHill

Well, you asked what people think.

I don't like it, not a bit.

By all means, have the work day.

And by all means, provide the materials for the needy kids.

But don't connect the two.

Don't stigmatize the kids. And that's what this would do.

I didn't see where it said only the poorer kids could come. It pretty much said, hey, we need help and here's what you could earn for that help. It sounded as if it was open to anyone who wanted to show up. I think it's great. Work and receive. It's incentive and it's helping the community and the people.

[shellycoley]

I agree with TurnerHill.
Have the volunteer clean up day.
Collect and distribute school supplies.
Do not connect the two.

Shelly

[DAVID In Wisconsin]

I see no problems with connecting work with getting the things we need. Problem is when we get things with no work involved. It's happening all too often in this country.

[jmtinmi]

Originally Posted by DAVID In Wisconsin

Problem is when we get things with no work involved. It's happening all too often in this country.

This seems to be what Obama advocates, and what most voted in.

[Mid Tn Mama]

At our school, ALL parents and families can work at band events and earn $$ towards band trips. No one is singled out for being poor or not being poor. No one knows who worked enough for the entire trip or who worked for the entire trip. Many folks working don't "need" the trip money but want to teach their kids to work for what they have. Everyone is happy. No one is embarrassed--or if they are, they shouldn't be. The great thing is that by HS, even kids whose parents can't or won't help out are able to do it on their own.

The kids I was mentioning before are kids whose parents are messed up on drugs. It doesn't matter how you offer help, often they do not arrange for their kids to have that help. Teachers cannot set things up for them, their parents must. I've seen kids living in terrible conditions, homeless conditions (we do not have a homeless shelter) with meth addicted parents. Their drug addiction gets in the way of any responsible parenting. Unfortunately, we have a big drug problem here.

[Aohtee]

You can't teach a child a work ethic by holding a stick over their heads. You teach by example.

How many parents, regardless of their socio-economic status, buy into the myth "my kid is not going to work as hard as I had to"? only to end up disappointed when their child does not measure up to their standards.

If you need volunteers, ask for volunteers.

If your senior group can't provide the materials any longer, let them cut back or stop the program altogether.

I personally would not want to be part of any group who gives a "gift" with a price tag attached.

Originally Posted by jmtinmi

This seems to be what Obama advocates, and what most voted in.

This was going on during the Bush terms, too. Stop blaming every ill on one person.



Why not have a huge clean up day where everyone can come out and work? If you want to give out supplies then, do it for ALL kids, not just the poor kids. If the area is truely hurting, then even a working family would appreciate not having to buy supplies.

Make it a party. See if someone can donate some hot dogs to grill up and chips. Have a few folks bring in their grills and their job is to grill dogs. Everyone who works gets a ticket for a free lunch. Breaking bread together helps build communities.

[ronbre]

sounds great to me

[Peacock]

I don't know. It sounds like a great idea in theory but unless they're screened I don't know if it would really help who it needs to help.

See, if I knew anyone could do it, *I* would go to the park and work for school supplies -- I don't need help, but it sounds like a fun way to save some money. I'd be there in a heartbeat.

Another twist which would be neat is to allow people to volunteer on behalf of someone who needs it -- say, if I showed up to clean the park for an hour, the city would donate a bag of supplies to one needy family. I would gladly do that too, and I suspect so would a lot of others. But you could also do it if *you* need the supplies. That way nobody would know who was doing it for charity or for himself.

Seems like every time you turn around anymore someone is asking for money to help the needy. I know that it's always been easier for me (well, till last year or so when my life got crazy busy) to donate my time instead of my money. Sure would be nice if more people had that opportunity.

I've always thought that was a good idea. Say, you could cut out some paid custodial workers from the schools (no debates about job losses) and have parents volunteer once a week to do the cleaning, repairs, groundskeeping, etc. I think we're going to need that volunteer spirit to get us out of this depression.

[Peacock]

Originally Posted by DaleK

Sounds only moderately better than what happens here which is....

Every child gets a list before school starts of what supplies they "need" to have for the start of school (this starts in Grade 1).

When the child takes their supplies to school, the teacher takes them and puts them in the "class" supply closet.

The "class" supplies are then given out as needed through the year on a first-come, first-served basis. When they run out, the teacher sends notes home telling parents that "their" child has used all their supplies even though these supplies were actually used largely by the children who didn't bring any.

End result being that the parents who are involved in their childs education end up paying not only for supplies their children use, but for those used by other children whose parents can't be bothered (and it's usually not financial, we've noticed the children in my daughter's class who don't bother bringing supplies tend to be from families making at least twice as much as we do).

We only fell for this once. Now she takes things from home as needed and not from the "class" supplies.

GOSH YES --- this is exactly how they used to do it when my kids were in the lower grades. Fortunately now that they're older, they trust each kid (with the exception of paper towels/tissues) to manage his own supplies. They do ask for donations for the classroom supplies of pencils, dry-erase markers, paper, etc. but it's not required.

I went along with it because at the time we lived in a fairly affluent area and there weren't many slackers/needy folks; in fact we were on the low end of the scale.

That is NOT the case now. If I had a young kid with a "supply closet" teacher, I'd also be protesting that system.

[FiddleKat]

Originally Posted by DaleK

Sounds only moderately better than what happens here which is....

Every child gets a list before school starts of what supplies they "need" to have for the start of school (this starts in Grade 1).

When the child takes their supplies to school, the teacher takes them and puts them in the "class" supply closet.

The "class" supplies are then given out as needed through the year on a first-come, first-served basis. When they run out, the teacher sends notes home telling parents that "their" child has used all their supplies even though these supplies were actually used largely by the children who didn't bring any.

End result being that the parents who are involved in their childs education end up paying not only for supplies their children use, but for those used by other children whose parents can't be bothered (and it's usually not financial, we've noticed the children in my daughter's class who don't bother bringing supplies tend to be from families making at least twice as much as we do).

We only fell for this once. Now she takes things from home as needed and not from the "class" supplies.

Our DD's class is somewhat like this. She's in a special needs class, and the teacher frequently sends a list home. But on the list is not only glue sticks, crayons, but paper towels, napkins, baby wipes.
Since my DD is wheelchair bound, and still uses diapers, I send her diapers in with the package clearly marked with her name on it. At times she comes home in a different diaper. Ive sent baby wipes in as well, and they seem to go through them awfully fast!!!