Homeless Kids School Supply Drive
Donation protected
Who We Are: We are Lorraine Hill and Laura Carleton. We are bonded friends and each other's champions. Our paths first crossed when Lorraine was a resident of Drueding Center, a transitional housing program founded by the Sisters of the Holy Redeemer in the Kensington section of Philadelphia for homeless women and their children when I (Laura) served as the Director of Education and Employment.
Lorraine( right) and I back in the day...
Lorraine is a force of nature who raised her 3 young grandchildren and attended and graduated college while struggling through familial trauma and homelessness. She succesfully raised them to be bright, caring, self-reliant young men and women.
I (Laura) am a mom of 3 who has worked with homeless, low income and traumatized and struggling families throughout the city of Philadelphia in a variety of educational roles. The most astoundingly courageous, resourceful, good humored and determined woman I have met in all these years of serving Philadelphia's underserved communities is hands down, Lorraine Hill.
Who We Are Raising Money for: Lorraine and I are raising money for the children who currently reside in the place we first met. We would like to make sure these homeless children living in transitional housing have what they need to put their best foot forward in the upcoming school year.
More about Holy Redeemer's Drueding Center Transitional Housing Program
How the Money Will be used: With the help of Drueding Center staff, we have collected a list of the children's specific school requirments. In Philadelphia, schools both public and charter, send our city's kids home with a long list of required supplies-- from certain pencil and crayon types to disinfectant wipes and paper towels. In addition, each child of course needs a backbag to carry all their supplies to and from class each day. While this puts an annual strain on every working family's wallet, for single moms raising their young children in the shelter system, that strain is immeasurably and unquestionably greater.
Enjoying a tasty craft activity at Drueding Center Daycare
Why We are Doing This: This effort to support the education of this city's most at risk and in need youth comes from a very personal place.
We are doing this in honor of Lorraine's grandson, Nafice DaShawn Hill.
Nafice DaShawn Hill and his 1,000 watt smile
Nafice, just 25 years old--bright, always smiling, engaged, charming and charasmatic, a hard worker and a loving father to his young daughter Nevaeh-- was gunned down on January 12th , 2016. As his math tutor and a trusted friend of his grandmother's, I remember a young boy who loved to learn, to draw, a young man with unlimited potential. Nafice mastered math and as a young adult gave back by tutoring others in this same subject he once struggled in.
We want to honor him by keeping his light shining. We want these students, the future of this city, to go back to school this year with his spirit and love of learning.
We want to give them a equal footing in the classroom on the first day of school.
We see in their eyes the same unlimited potential we saw in Nafice's.
Funds needed ASAP so we can purchase the supplies and get them to families in need at Drueding Centerbefore the first day of school.
Any funds in excess of what is required to make purchases for the children of Drueding Center will go toward future artistic and educational endeavors we would like to provide for Drueding Center families in the name of our beloved Nafice.
Lorraine( right) and I back in the day...
Lorraine is a force of nature who raised her 3 young grandchildren and attended and graduated college while struggling through familial trauma and homelessness. She succesfully raised them to be bright, caring, self-reliant young men and women.
I (Laura) am a mom of 3 who has worked with homeless, low income and traumatized and struggling families throughout the city of Philadelphia in a variety of educational roles. The most astoundingly courageous, resourceful, good humored and determined woman I have met in all these years of serving Philadelphia's underserved communities is hands down, Lorraine Hill.
Who We Are Raising Money for: Lorraine and I are raising money for the children who currently reside in the place we first met. We would like to make sure these homeless children living in transitional housing have what they need to put their best foot forward in the upcoming school year.
More about Holy Redeemer's Drueding Center Transitional Housing Program
How the Money Will be used: With the help of Drueding Center staff, we have collected a list of the children's specific school requirments. In Philadelphia, schools both public and charter, send our city's kids home with a long list of required supplies-- from certain pencil and crayon types to disinfectant wipes and paper towels. In addition, each child of course needs a backbag to carry all their supplies to and from class each day. While this puts an annual strain on every working family's wallet, for single moms raising their young children in the shelter system, that strain is immeasurably and unquestionably greater.
Enjoying a tasty craft activity at Drueding Center Daycare
Why We are Doing This: This effort to support the education of this city's most at risk and in need youth comes from a very personal place.
We are doing this in honor of Lorraine's grandson, Nafice DaShawn Hill.
Nafice DaShawn Hill and his 1,000 watt smile
Nafice, just 25 years old--bright, always smiling, engaged, charming and charasmatic, a hard worker and a loving father to his young daughter Nevaeh-- was gunned down on January 12th , 2016. As his math tutor and a trusted friend of his grandmother's, I remember a young boy who loved to learn, to draw, a young man with unlimited potential. Nafice mastered math and as a young adult gave back by tutoring others in this same subject he once struggled in.
We want to honor him by keeping his light shining. We want these students, the future of this city, to go back to school this year with his spirit and love of learning.
We want to give them a equal footing in the classroom on the first day of school.
We see in their eyes the same unlimited potential we saw in Nafice's.
Funds needed ASAP so we can purchase the supplies and get them to families in need at Drueding Centerbefore the first day of school.
Any funds in excess of what is required to make purchases for the children of Drueding Center will go toward future artistic and educational endeavors we would like to provide for Drueding Center families in the name of our beloved Nafice.
Organizer
Laura Addesi
Organizer
Philadelphia, PA