By: Alexis Crum
It’s officially Christmas time. Snow is falling, lights are up, and presents lie at the bottom of large trees, but one house looks off. There are no lights, no tree, not even presents. Everything is bleak and dull, everything is… cold. There’s none of that ‘Christmas cheer’ that everyone else is always raving about.
It appears that the family is together, but in all reality they’re squirming and screaming at one another as winds of winter nip at their fingers. Christmas, spent so differently, and at what cost? This is the reality of what a home that is facing poverty can look like during even the most merry time.
To those students who chose that quite a few students are in poverty on the form I sent out, you would be correct; 38% of students at Southeast High School are in poverty as of now. This can tear families apart when they need nothing more than being together. It has so many different effects on the children of these families, that at times you might just call them troubled or disobedient, but this Christmas, we ask you to help them. Be the person that they might just need above all.
With a lack of financial stability, families will often-times begin to argue, fight, and break apart from the inside out. It’s not that they don’t love each other, or that they don’t have the means to love, it’s merely the increased stress and unhappiness that follows with this lack of essentials that can ruin even the closest bonds. Guardians of these students often live to pay their essential bills and are barely making it past that. These bills could be anywhere from rent to groceries. Guardians spend every waking second working as hard as they possibly can to make it to their next meal. However, this can also be the case in terms of splurging. Splurging is when you get a hunch to buy something really expensive, but you don’t have the means for said purchase. Guardians spend their last bit of savings on a brand new TV that they can’t even use because they don’t have enough to pay for their internet and electricity bills. As a way to help prevent these measures from further decline, our school has a list of many organizations within Portage County that are more than willing to help these families in poverty.
These organisations include the following:
-Community Action Council
-PRC program
-Catholic Charities
-Salvation Army
-Center of Hope
-Housing and Emergency Support Services
-CCMEP program for teens
These are only a few of the abundance of organizations out there here at Southeast, and we are so blessed to have as many programs as we do.
Dear families in need, don’t be afraid to reach out for a helping hand when one is necessary. Our social worker here at Southeast, Kelly Szydlowski, is here to support all families experiencing these harsh conditions this season. So this Christmas, if you happen to be fortunate enough, donate to your local communities so these families can receive a Christmas worth remembering.
The Pirate Post 