Doing the Right Thing Despite the Hard Times
With all the talk about what’s going to go with all the budget cuts in the future, it’s nice to see that some of the important things are still remaining intact. The Sunnyside Unified School District was awarded a $30,000 grant from the Quest Foundation Spirit of Serivce in order to purchase and fill backpacks with healthy snacks for the McKinney-Vento students in the district. The project opened up April 9 and will continue providing for these students until May 25.
A host of backpacks to be filled with nutritious sacks for McKinney-Vento Homeless students. (Photo Courtesy of Sunnyside Unified School District)
For those curious as to what the McKinney-Vento project is all about, here is a general overview of what it entails. Essentially, McKinney-Vento students are kids without a home that aren’t offered the luxaries that other more fortunate students have available. To see that there are people out there willing to put aside the other issues and take care of something that seems just slightly more important gives one faith that there are still minds out there that don’t see the dollar signs in erverything.
Superintendent Dr. Manuel Isquierdo (second from left) is presented with a $30,000 check to make this project happen. (Photo Courtest of Sunnyside Unified School District)
According to Andrea Foster, the school’s homeless student contact, the district enrolls approximately 900 homeless students – many of whom are living in places ranging from hotels to group homes. The Qwest Foundation‘s grants often go to community-based programs in the K-12 are of education. Members of the foundation in addition to administrators, parents and other volunteers will continue stuffing the backpacks over the next month an a half. The packs contains food such as canned tuna and chicken, applesauce, trail mix, granola bars, juices and water bottles.
