{"id":11827,"date":"2019-08-02T18:20:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T18:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=11827"},"modified":"2019-08-02T18:20:23","modified_gmt":"2019-08-02T18:20:23","slug":"heitzman-helps-homeless-students-find-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/02\/heitzman-helps-homeless-students-find-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Heitzman Helps Homeless Students Find Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ninety K-12 students are without permanent shelter or \u2018in great need\u2019<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Kristy Heitzman holds one of the backpacks homeless students will receive from the Blaine County Education Foundation. Photo credit: Kristy Heitzman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a scenic resort town, homelessness can go unseen. But that doesn\u2019t mean it doesn\u2019t exist. In fact, in the Blaine County School District, there are now 90 students experiencing homelessness or who are considered \u201cin great need.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not runaway teens mad at Mom. These are elementary students, too, who need our help,\u201d said Kristy Heitzman, the executive director of the Blaine County Education Foundation\u2014an essentially one-person organization (that\u2019d be Heitzman) doing all it can to help the kids of struggling families struggle a little less in school.<\/p>\n

The Struggle Is Real<\/b><\/p>\n

Federal funds exist to help students in need, Heitzman explained, but sometimes there\u2019s a catch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government has very specific definitions and guidelines for what constitutes homelessness, so revenue is always limited,\u201d Heitzman said. \u201cLast year, federal funds ran dry.\u201d<\/p>\n

For some students, the shortfall can mean not being able to participate in graduation. That\u2019s not because homelessness impacted their grades, Heitzman explains. Rather, it\u2019s because if you have unpaid fees, you don\u2019t get a diploma. And, she points out, when you own one pair of pants and duct-taped shoes, sometimes a piece of paper can take on less significance.<\/p>\n

In other cases, students are not from homeless families. In fact, they are no longer part of any family, having been kicked out of their homes or having to enter foster care due to dysfunctional living environments.<\/p>\n

It Takes A Valley<\/b><\/p>\n

Although the Blaine County Education Foundation is a one-person, part-time crew in Heitzman, she is not alone in her efforts to mitigate the impacts of homelessness on Valley youth.<\/p>\n

From Domino\u2019s Pizza and Walmart donating food and backpacks, to efforts like the Can-Do Fund where things like insurance payments are covered for kids so they can participate in sports, a behind-the-scenes army of Valley residents pitches in to help less fortunate kids have a more normal school experience.<\/p>\n

Within the school system, the first line of defense is social workers, such as Beth Citron, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) who has worked in the Blaine County School District at Bellevue Elementary School for the past 20 years.<\/p>\n

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School supplies are gathered by the Blaine County Education Foundation for kids in need. Photo credit: Kristy Heitzman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSometimes a teacher will alert us to a family that may be in need of assistance,\u201d explained Citron. \u201cSometimes a parent will come in and ask to speak with the social worker about assistance and we ascertain that the family may be \u2018doubled up\u2019\u2014unable to afford their own place, staying at a motel, etcetera.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citron, along with other school social workers, also conducts PowerPoint presentations for teachers and staff at the beginning of each school year. The sessions are designed to help staff identify kids who may be in need and how to direct those kids and their families to community resources, such as The Hunger Coalition services and Mountain Rides passes.<\/p>\n

Success Stories<\/b><\/p>\n

Where challenge is found, character often exists. And over the years, Citron and Heitzman have seen their fair share of remarkable success stories. Efforts made in the Study Skills Club\u2014where tutors positively interact with the kids and help them establish good study habits\u2014took three failing sixth- and seventh-grade students this year and helped them each earn straight A\u2019s by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Heitzman recalls another young woman who had to leave her family while in high school. Today, at 19, she is a certified yoga instructor and attending community college.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an incredible turnaround,\u201d Heitzman said.<\/p>\n

So how can Valley residents be part of the solution and help do their part to create more success stories like these? Of course, there are the donations of warm coats in winter and the volunteer work opportunities year-round, but for Citron it\u2019s also about the need for community awareness and personal connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe social-emotional needs are probably the biggest,\u201d Citron said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ninety K-12 students are without permanent shelter or \u2018in great need\u2019 By Eric Valentine In a scenic resort town, homelessness can go unseen. But that doesn\u2019t mean it doesn\u2019t exist. In fact, in the Blaine County School District, there are now 90 students experiencing homelessness or who are considered \u201cin great need.\u201d \u201cThese are not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[74,18,20,36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"category-news","9":"category-nonprofit","10":"category-slider"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}