Canton students help fill backpacks for the homeless
By Guest
Canton students with some of their filled backpacks: (front row l-r) Matthew and Lauren De Vito, Dominic Gray, Andrew Bonanno, Alex Callagee; (back row) Kylie Callagee, James De Vito, Teagan Rodovsky, Sigal and Mia Levine, Matt Hylen, Michael Bonanno, and Jarrod Rodovsky
A group of 13 children from the Hansen Elementary School and the Canton Community Kindergarten recently gathered at the headquarters of School on Wheels of Massachusetts (SOWMA) in Brockton to help fill backpacks for children who are impacted by homelessness.
During a time of extreme instability, School on Wheels kids are given a backpack to help get them ready to start a new school year and to keep them focused on their education. This summer SOWMA will be preparing 700 backpacks for students living in homeless shelters, motels or other temporary housing. The backpacks contain markers, crayons, three-ring binders, index cards, file folders, scissors, colored pencils, and a reading book.
Cheryl Opper, executive director of SOWMA, informed the “Team Hansen” students and their families that there are approximately 50,000 homeless children in the state of Massachusetts. Opper also mentioned that the average age of a homeless person in Massachusetts is 8 years old — the same age as some of the Hansen volunteers. The Team Hansen students and families donated over two hours of their time on a sunny Saturday afternoon to help other children just like themselves. When the students left, they all asked Mrs. Opper, “When can we come back to help again?”
Susan Bonanno, a four-year member of the SOWMA board who has two sons who attend the Hansen School, believes in the importance of giving back to children in her community who are affected by homelessness. Bonanno invited the other Hansen students and families to SOWMA to help with the stocking of shelves and filling of backpacks. She was thrilled, but not surprised at the turnout of families.
“Mr. [Peter] Boucher, the principal of the Hansen, always stresses three ‘Expectations for Excellence,’ one of which is ‘Do the Right Thing,’” said Bonanno. “It was not surprising to me that Team Hansen families and students chose to ‘Do the Right Thing’ by helping others in need.”
School on Wheels of Massachusetts is a nonprofit organization that provides customized one-on-one tutoring/mentoring, new backpacks filled with supplies and books, school advocacy and college assistance for students in kindergarten through high school who have been impacted by homelessness.
To learn more about how you can make a difference in the life of a student living in a temporary shelter, please go to www.sowma.org or contact Robin Gilbert, operations director, at robin@sowma.org or 508-587-9091.
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