APS Family Connections

Sometimes families just need a little extra help to make ends meet. That’s when APS family liaisons can step in and lend a helping hand. “Whether it’s food or clothing, we can line them up with the right resources they need,” said Kimberly Kesler, the family liaison at Voris CLC. She has had her job for six years. “We get to meet the parents on a personal level and hear them out, listening to their needs first and speaking after they know they‘ve been heard.’’

She said they try to fill special requests, too, saying that one student only wanted a Christmas sweater for Christmas; so she personally went out and purchased one at lunchtime. The student was so happy, he wore it three days in a row. “I like the fact that we are able to put a smile on their faces.”

Janice Gleaves knows about staff members using their own money to buy items for the students. She’s been a family liaison for five years. When she started at Schumacher CLC, there was no guideline and a new principal; but she said the principal, Christopher Haynes, lets her be creative, including when she entered a contest through Fox 8 News called Fuel Your School with Liberty Ford. She wrote an essay on why they needed the $5,000 prize money saying the staff always goes above and beyond by going into their own pockets to help families. “We won, and it was a big deal. We went on the Morning Live Show with Wayne Dawson, and Liberty Ford presented us with this giant check. The competition was throughout Northeast Ohio. It was so exciting.”

Gleaves said the school relies on grants but also help from the community. “We get help from individual sponsors and churches. United Baptist donated a washer and dryer. Barbers have provided hair cuts for the boys. We look for anybody we can partner with.”

She has also set up financial academies that have helped parents get out of debt, get jobs, and purchase a house or car.

The program is growing.

Dr Mae Walker of Student Services at APS said they aren’t doing it for the money and treat the students like their own. She hopes to increase the number of family liaisons from 28 to 35.

She recently met with all of her family liaisons at the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank to share that resource. Erika Henderson, who is a family liaison at Crouse CLC, found the tour very informative. “I never knew families could walk in three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.) and shop for the food they need, the shelf life of certain food, and how the Foodbank packages the food and that it feeds 650 families a day. Our pantry is one of the things I’m most passionate about.“ Crouse received funding last year to open its food pantry.

Henderson shops at Acme two or three times a year. “My principal, Tara Bruce-Bently, insists that it be a five-star pantry. I only buy brand-name items so the parents don’t feel like they are given anything less than what they would buy at the grocery store.”

She said she provides care packages for 25 families at a time around the holidays and at the end of the school year. She noticed when parents come to the pantry that they grab snacks, detergent and hygiene supplies -- things that are not always within their basic needs budget.

Family liaisons work with teachers, nurses and other staff members to try to find out the root of why a student is missing school. If it is transportation, the school offers Lyft services. They offer to wash clothes and give additional clothing. Market Place, a reserve pantry located at the Ott Building, has extra and emergency supplies.

“We love what we do,” said Gleaves. “Truth be told, it is a ministry more than just going to work. If it is not in your heart, you won’t stay. It is rewarding for me, so I’m not going anywhere.”