Community Services Update

In the meantime, we have discovered quite a shocking statistic - there are about 30 teens in each of the 3 high schools in our area who are homeless (that's approximately 90 they have identified - they know there are more) - - - and that's only the high school level - there are homeless children of all ages. The more we research, the more important it seems to be that we direct our efforts to ease the problem of homeless children in our area..we can tie a lot of things into that effort, and can still do other things, as well. Be thinking of a good name for this effort: Every Child Should Have a Home; or A Home for Every Child --- however, at this point, we are not planning to provide housing, but who knows where we'll end up? We ARE a "can-do" club, after all! Thanks to Marta Anderson for taking on Canstruction! You can visit their website at www.canstsruction.org to see some of the beautiful Canstruction displays that have taken national prizes. Thanks, too, to Dave Newkirk for getting us an architect who has some experience in one of these competitions. We should begin fund-raising soon, so come with your ideas! Here are some of the other ideas (good causes) we have discussed: 1. Coat Roundup: Once a year, encourage people to "clean out their coat closets" and donate them to us!! We will collect coats each meeting during the month of October (?) to be distributed to the homeless..we especially would encourage children's coats, although teens are often in adult sizes. We can perhaps time this "Roundup" so that major outlets would donate their "end of season" or overstocked coats to us. 2. Perfect Attendance Medallion: Once a semester, go to the local elementary schools (the three that come to mind are Lydia Hawk, Olympic View and Meadows) and give a medallion (like an Olympic medal on a ribbon) to each child who has had perfect attendance; we might expand this to Gold for perfect, Silver for missing one day, and Bronze for missing up to 3 days..or something like that! 3. Adopt a School: Build a "RotaryPlaza" at each school we adopt - sell bricks (that have donors name on them) to build the plaza, with proceeds going to the school. 4. Map on the Playground: Paint or etch a map of the United States (North America?) on asphalt or other hard surface on the playground. 5. Suds Challenge: One meeting each month? This was designed to bring in cleaning supplies and soaps for people in need; however, the committee thinks this is a great title for a beer garden, with proceeds going to the homeless. Joanna West is contacting local schools, Al Eckroth has contacted people who work with homeless people in our area, I am contacting children's clubs (Boys & Girls Clubs and Big Brothers & Big Sisters) and the SeniorCenter. Our goal is to discover what these people have to say about the needs of the community. Reports on these efforts will be presented at the Feb. 8 meeting.

Let me know if you have any questions..and THANKS for donating your time and energy. Joan Keller 360-791-3507.