Can you imagine being homeless, hungry AND have to graduate? That’s the reality for TOO many area teens. Read how you can help all month long!
What is LEAF?
Leaf provide supplemental funding for academics, activities, arts and athletics – as well as student support services in our district schools. In 2014 we were approached by the district’s homeless program and community members who expressed a need to provide support for homeless students for crisis shelter, food, clothing, transportation and other emergency needs – that were not being met by other social service and community agencies. We agreed to take on that role and the Homeless Student Services Fund was born. Because of tremendous support from citizens of the St. Cloud area, to date this fund has provided over $160,000 in support of our homeless families. The fund is comprised entirely of money donated by people and businesses in the community and all money collected goes 100% to help students and families experiencing homelessness – there a not administrative fees.
From 2015-2021 LEAF provided grants in the following amounts:
Housing costs – $91,951.89
Food – $13,676.56
Clothing – $31,811.69
Transportation/gas – $5,506.22
Misc – $17,811.70
Total- $160,758.06
A little bit about the families you work with?
Our families are primarily single parent households who are working and not making ends meet. Surviving day to day as homeless is expensive and extremely difficult to work your way out of. Motel fees, non-perishable groceries, shelter costs, etc. uses all available funds with nothing left to save for move in costs. Additionally unaccompanied youth make up a fair amount of our numbers; these are students who are not in the custody of a legal guardian and are often couch hopping or residing in 1 of our 2 area youth shelters.
Some of the fun things we get to do is – We’ve taken families shopping at the start of the school year so our homeless students could start the year with a new outfit. Also, we’ve helped cover the costs of band trips, purchased sports equipment and paid registration fees so our students get the opportunity to participate in extra curricular activities.
Why is that important for a school district?–
District 742’s Mission is to create a safe and caring climate and culture in which we prepare, engage, educate, empower and inspire all learners in partnership with their surrounding community to be successful in today’s and tomorrow’s society. Unfortunately, there are some things the District is unable to help with. Things like crisis shelter, clothing, food outside of the school day and many other miscellaneous items are beyond the District’s responsibility yet greatly impact a student’s self-worth and ability to focus on their education.
To help us help District 742 homeless students and families, just go to the LEAF website (www.leaf742.org) and make a donation using your credit card, or you can send a check made out to “LEAF” and send it to LEAF, PO Box 1132, St. Cloud, MN 56302.