Community Partnerships Can Impact Childrens' Lives

Today I had the honor of joining our principal in a meeting with two pastors from a local church just down the street from our school. The church partners with us in providing school supplies for students in need, as well as providing food for our children in need over the weekend but today we met to address feeding our children over the summer. One of the pastors showed us around their food pantry and we discussed the needs of our families from our school. I was impressed that the food within the pantry was stocked with food from various cultures so it could meet the diverse needs of our community. We brainstormed ways to deliver food and compile a list of needs for the families so people within the church can begin to bring donations. I am in the process of compiling a list of children, addresses and needs- this is thrilling!
On our way out of the building, the pastor stopped at a library the church has had for many years. He shared that the library is never used and that he would like to find a way to get the books within the library into the hands of children within the community. It was like icing on the cake- I created and  run our school book mobile and am always looking for books as we give our books away instead of checking them out. Our goal is to have books in the homes of every child within our community. To see a huge room filled with shelves of books and to know that they would like to get them into the community was glorious.
Overall I was fortunate to have participated in this type of meeting and become part of the process of ensuring our children are fed. I saw, first hand, how educational leadership partnering with the community can impact and change children's lives.

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