Help for low income special needs kids

Ben Boyers, a high school junior, has created this fundraiser to help the students and the families of Ruth Owens Kruse School.  You may not be aware that this is one of only two schools in all of Miami-Dade County that serves students with severe emotional or behavioral disabilities. Many of these students have experienced trauma, neglect, and have struggled to function in a regular school. Nearly all of these students receive free or reduced cost lunch but their families have been struggling significantly since the start of the pandemic.  So, in addition to all the clinical, educational and vocational services that this school provides as a part of its regular curriculum,  Ruth Owens does whatever it takes to help these children succeed.  This includes having a food pantry in the school, where students can bring home food to cover the family over the weekend and during the hours when they are not at school.  The School  provides a wide array of services to families with children who have emotional difficulties and does everything it can just to help  these families survive.  

As you might imagine, Ruth Owens Kruse does not have a PTA that raises money to make sure that the school is equipped with supplies or any kind of "extras" that the PTA in more affluent areas cover.  As a result, the devoted staff of this school personally provide food and help pay for activities. This school is filled with teachers and therapists who see potential in every child and go to the ends of the earth, far beyond their job descriptions, to give these children every opportunity to succeed.  

The money raised by this project will go to purchase items for the food pantry, cleaning supplies that can be used for the children to bring home, and supplies for classrooms.  If we are able to raise enough money after that, we hope to purchase materials to create a game room in the school to be used as a reward for children who meet certain therapeutic goals, to purchase small toys and gifts to be given to students who attend school regularly, and also to replace some broken benches and tables outside the school. 

These at risk kids and families need the help and support of the Ruth Owens School and the School needs all of us to give generously.  Please give whatever help you can to this very worthy cause!  Thank you.