MERCER COUNTY, W.Va. – Sunday marked the beginning of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Last week the Mercer County Commission collectively signed a proclamation recognizing the week.
The Mercer County Courthouse will be lit up in purple to symbolize hunger and homelessness awareness. Mercer County Schools and the Mercer County Coalition for Healthy Communities with the help from others also planted 700 purple flags at the Mercer County County Courthouse on Monday.
Additionally, the groups are teaming up to provide activities to children with the goal of empowering them to make a difference.
Students in Pre-K through 5th grade will be participating in a drawing contest themed “Hunger and Homelessness: How Can I Help?” Winners of the contest will be selected by grade level and will be awarded an ice cream party to highlight the positive impact individuals can make on others.
“It’s important for students to be involved in community activities and bring awareness. So they know themselves for resources out there but also how to help friends and family if they know someone in need and how to connect them to the resources in the community,” said Candace Harless, chairperson for the Mercer County Coalition for Healthy Communities.
Middle and high school students will be sewing fleece blankets to those in need. Students at the Mercer County Technical Education Center will be preparing meals for the homeless as well as creating a social media campaign contest to help raise awareness.
“The definition of homeless doesn’t look necessarily what you might think,” said Alysha Crawford, ICARE facilitator for Mercer County Schools. “It can be on a street or in a tent but it could also be one family doubled up with another family. Living in a hotel or motel or sub-standard housing.”
Crawford says knowing this helps students and their families identify themselves as being homeless. This definition has been defined federally by the McKinney-Vento Act which gives children the right to immediate enrollment among other benefits.
She says this opens the door to help students with educational instability.
“We can also arrange special transportation so kids that have to be displaced and leave their home school, we can make sure that we can get them transportation so they can stay there. Stay where those connections are and where those relationships are so they don’t have another disruption in their education,” said Crawford.
Crawford says if you believe a Mercer County student may qualify as homeless under the definition you can contact her office for assistance. Crawford can be reached by phone at 304-487-1551 or email: [email protected]
Copyright 2024 WVVA. All rights reserved.