TROY — Through entertaining music or classroom competitions,
students in some Oakland County school districts are hearing the
message and doing their part to make a difference when it comes to the
plight of the homeless and less fortunate in the area.
Through the medium of a drumming student rock band, Smith Middle
School seventh-grader Melissa Clay was awakened to the need to make a
difference in her community.
“If they would have talked to us about people being homeless, a lot
of students would have drifted off and not paid attention, but with the
music they paid more attention to the message,” Melissa said of the
nonprofit group, Sheltered Reality, from Iowa. “Now, I’m more alert
about the homeless and I will try to donate more stuff to them.”
Across Bloomfield Hills, students are trying to make a difference by
helping in an effort to donate to Covenant House, a shelter and service
agency for runaway and homeless teens in Detroit.
The effort helps charitable causes, and raises awareness of those less fortunate.
Susan Benson, director of homeless student education for Oakland
Schools, said in the 2003-04 school year her program serviced several
hundred school-aged students. On any given night in Oakland County,
there are more than 1,000 people seeking shelter, she said.
She noted it is important for students to realize homeless students are in every district, even Bloomfield Hills and Troy.
“We are just now understanding ... the homeless problem in this
county and elsewhere,” Benson said. “We are perceived as a wealthy
county, and it’s not believed that there is a homeless problem.”
Benson said there is a need to get students involved in the plight of the homeless locally.
“There are tangible ways they can help,” she said. “We need
backpacks. We need supplies and we need volunteers to tutor. These kids
move from home to home and there is a demand for tutoring.”
Monetary donations can also be used for items such as school
clothing. Within the first six weeks of school, Benson’s program has
had contact with more than 650 homeless students. She said the program
is getting bigger and spreading wider.
“Students can help set the tone that homelessness is not a crime,”
she said. “It is something that happens in every district in the
county. They need to help us get past the stereotypes.”
Joseph Hosang, assistant principal at Smith Middle School, said
programs such as Sheltered Reality help put problems into perspective
for students in a medium they are familiar with. Though the program
appeared to be like a concert, the students absorbed the information.
“I was confident that the students did understand the message the
group was giving,” he said, adding discussions on how students can do
their part in helping the less fortunate have already taken place.
Make A Difference Day in Bloomfield Hills schools is in its seventh
year as a district-wide effort to raise funds, donations and awareness
for charitable causes.
Each year students contribute to a different cause. This year’s
effort to gather snacks, blankets, pillows, warm apparel, and
toiletries for teenagers is striking a cord.
“I feel like we’ve been given a gift of everything that we have and
we should help out other communities in need and give stuff we are not
using anymore to the people who actually need it,” said Kyle Sloan, 16,
a student at Model and Andover high schools.
“When I first found out about this, I didn’t even know there was a
shelter for runaway teenagers. I thought this was a good idea because
they are our age and it’s like we have a certain connection with them.”
The Bloomfield Hills students will be making up baggies filled with
small items for the homeless teens who choose not to go to Covenant
House.
Elementary students make cards to put in the goodie bags that with phrases such as “We Care About You” or “You’re special.”
“A lot of us take for granted a lot of the small stuff like
Chapstick and shampoo,” said West Hills Middle School eighth-grader
Molly Wascher. “This gives us an opportunity to give back to our
community and learn how fortunate we are to have the things we have.”
Janet Sugameli is a Metro Detroit free-lance writer.
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