A winter coat giveaway will take place in the covered parking lot of the Community Youth Services Building, 711 State Ave NE in downtown Olympia, on Saturday, November 19, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
“You don’t have to be a district student, you don’t have to be a district family, all you have to do is need a coat,” says Sarah Greenwell, Homeless Liaison for the Olympia School District (OSD), and one of the people responsible for spearheading the coat drive leading up to the giveaway. Mack Edwards, an AmeriCorps worker stationed at Madison Elementary School is the other key organizer.
Edwards has placed donation boxes in all Olympia Schools. “Anyone can donate coats of any size to any Olympia district school,” he says. The drive will conclude this Friday, November 18th, so that coats can be sorted in time for the giveaway on Saturday.
As part of her job, Greenwell helps identify the needs of the more than 350 children in the Olympia School District who have an inadequate nighttime residence. “I make sure that families have everything that they need, and that includes school supplies, school clothes, shoes, basic needs, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toilet paper, on down the list.”
Having a warm coat in the winter is a real need, so last fall she became the driving force behind the first coat giveaway. “Last year we got about 1000 coats. We distributed between 850 and 900 of them, and the rest we donated to agencies.” She anticipates the need to be even greater this year.
Greenwell has been director of the OSD Homeless Program for 10 years and in the past decade has witnessed tremendous growth in numbers. “When I first started, I think we were under 200,” she says about the children and youth in the district who have been identified as being homeless, and although the Homeless Program is housed at Madison Elementary, Greenwell is quick to point out that it is a district wide issue. “Just because I’m stationed at one school, this is not the ‘homeless school'”. There are identified students in every school in the district, elementary through high school.
The biggest surge in numbers has been teenagers who no longer live with a custodial parent. “I have a lot of kids right now that are unaccompanied and sleeping in tents or couch surfing and still getting themselves up every day to go to school,” says Greenwell. “The federal term is ‘throw aways.’ They either get kicked out, or they run away or they’re 18 and they’re out, or they’ve been in foster care all their life and they’ve aged out.” But, she says, “They’re staying in school. They know that education is going to be their way out, and so they want to finish. They have this drive in them to do it, and I’m here and Mack is here to help them take away any barriers they might have.”
Although she works with various agencies in town, Greenwell recognizes the needs of families with school aged children are unique. “I refer families to different resources, but I prefer to have stuff here, because if a family comes in to me on a Thursday and says ‘I need a toothbrush,’ I know that the Other Bank is not open for a couple more days. I want them to have that, and also, it is a challenge for people, if they are working, to go to all these different places on the days and times that they are open. My whole objective is to lessen the burden that families have, so that they can be more successful. ”
In addition to coats, the OSD Homeless Program welcomes donations year round. The Welcome Room at Madison Elementary, where the program is housed, is stocked with backpacks and school supplies so that Greenwell can give them to any student who needs them. A storage area is filled with additional items families may require. “We’re always in need of brand new underwear, all sizes. And socks as well,” she says, “and we’re always running out of the bigger bottles of shampoo and conditioner.”
Community members are encouraged to contact Sarah Greenwell at Madison Elementary School if they would like to make donations to the Homeless Program, but in the meantime, everyone is encouraged to donate gently used warm coats, gloves, hats, and scarves at their local schools by Friday of this week.
And if you or someone you know needs a coat, come to the Community Youth Services covered parking lot on Saturday. “All you need is to need a coat.”
