Midland Independent School District's Family Support Center has spent the summer assisting the district's homeless student population, garnering praise from Texas State Senator Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo).
The Family Support Center is under the district's Student Services Department. Its focus is to reach out to highly at-risk students, making an effort to contact students with a lot of absences and their families to offer assistance, the center said in a release.
"The Midland ISD Family Support Center is doing great work to serve our students, no matter their situation," Seliger said recently on Twitter. "SD31 school districts set an example of how to prepare the next generation to succeed. I’m glad to be their advocate in the Senate."
School officials also believe in the importance of the program to the lives of their students.
"Our families are high-stress when they arrive, so we want to make them as comfortable as possible," Student Services Director Jill McCall said on the school district's website. "Thanks to the generosity of the Warren Charitable Foundation, United Way and others, we're creating an area for children with books, puzzles, games and space for art work. We are so thankful for the support the community has shown us."
Other school officials discussed the relationships they have with the students they help through the program.
"Doing this makes my heart grow," Family Support Specialist and liaison Theresa Barrera said in a recent story in the Midland Reporter-Telegram. “I feel what they feel, but helping those in need makes you feel good.”
The FSC reaches out to homeless students every six weeks. With the help of nonprofit organizations, the center provides homeless students and their families with essentials such as food, toiletry items, clothing, legal assistance and counseling.
Midland ISD has approximately 270 students enrolled who are identified as homeless and more than 350 who are inactive but at some point during the school year were identified as homeless, the FSC said in a June release. Currently the FSC serves about 80 families regularly.
The Family Support Center has walk-in hours every Thursday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the District Service Center, 615 W. Missouri Ave., the FSC said in the release. If you or someone you know needs assistance, you can contact the Family Support Center at (432) 240-1520 or familysupportcenter@midlandisd.net.