After our wonderful visit to Arthur Ashe Charter School in New Orleans, it was time to move on to our second affiliated site — Foundation Preparatory Academy, which serves kindergarten through 8th-grade students from all over the city.
Renée, Kris, Shayne, and I all got to Shayne’s car to make the short drive from the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans to the Fairgrounds neighborhood, where Foundation Prep was located. On the way, Renee explained to me that the site coordinator at the school had left the position and that our partner, Communities in Schools of Gulf South, was currently in the process of hiring a replacement. In the meantime, the Director of Student Services with CIS, Amy, who was very familiar with working at Foundation Prep, was going to meet us to talk more about how our sponsorship program was helping children at this school.
When we arrived, we checked in at the front office, and Amy greeted us with a student in our sponsorship program, Luke.* We started our visit by following Luke and Amy to the school’s resource center, where during her time working at the school, Amy would pull students out of class who needed to talk or take some time away from other students and either talk with Amy or play games and relax.
When we walked in, the first thing I noticed was the shelves of books, puzzles, and other toys — inviting games that would make any child happy to have the freedom to play with for 45 minutes or an hour at a time. As we all grabbed seats at the round table in the middle of the room, Luke helped himself to a few puzzles he wanted to work on while we all chatted together.
Renée asked Luke what he thought of Foundation Preparatory Academy, and he said it was a wonderful school. He had been there for a year and loved it a lot. As Luke worked on his puzzles with intense concentration, Amy explained that a lot of her work with the students at the school supported them with problem-solving, whether with things like puzzles or games or helping them talk through issues with other students or issues they have at home.
Those issues at home, as Amy told us, had a lot to do with living in impoverished households, where food was scarce and overcrowding housing was common. The kids often didn’t sleep well and would nap on the bus on the way to school, but then they would still be exhausted at the beginning of the school day. They also were often anxious or traumatized, having witnessed a lot of violence in their young lives. Amy mentioned that this often resulted in kids not having the skills to be patient with themselves and others, and so bringing them into the resource center to relax, cool off, or have some time alone with Amy was the foundation of a loving environment — and one that Luke obviously felt very comfortable in.
Once Luke successfully finished his puzzles, Amy asked him if he would like to take us on a tour of the school before he returned to class, and he excitedly said he would. He showed us the lunchroom, library, hallways, and classrooms through the school building; Amy explained to us as we walked that 100% of the students at Foundation Prep received free lunches, which helps a lot with providing basic resources for the kids. Additionally, she said that without help from our sponsors, many of the children in the school would only have one school uniform for a whole year and no jacket or long pants to wear during the winter.
As our tour ended, we said goodbye to Luke and he headed back to his classroom, and Amy escorted us back to the front office. As we thanked Amy for the wonderful visit, she paused and said that she wanted us to know that Luke and his brothers and sisters had had no beds or linens in their home at all, and Children Incorporated provided funds to help them get those items so they could all hopefully get a better night’s sleep. It was great to hear that thanks to our donors, we were able to help Luke have some quiet and peaceful time at home, just like he can get at school with the help of amazing people like Amy.
*Name changed to protect the child.
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How do I sponsor a child with Children Incorporated?
You can sponsor a child in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our sponsorship portal, create an account, and search for a child in that is available for sponsorship.