As you will soon read, Pat Kelly joined Operation: Kid Equip as a volunteer in April of this year. In that time, she’s been instrumental in the build out, stocking and coordination of the new Teachers’ Annex in Troy. If you’ve seen Pat in action, you’ll quickly know why she has become the Lead Annex Ambassador and helps run the day-to-day operations of the Teachers’ Annex.  She’s passionate, caring and always willing to share a laugh.  We’re happy to have her as part of the Operation: Kid Equip family.

In Pat’s own words . . .

I started working with Operation: Kid Equip the day they closed the original small store in Berkley and moved to the new Annex in Troy. What a difference! So much space! So much stuff to organize and stock! We worked very hard during the early summer, but yet had so much fun doing it. I was just shocked at all of the supplies they were able to obtain for just the cost of shipping. A $1 donated truly is multiplied many times over.

When the Annex finally opened it was very exciting. All of the time we spent getting ready for the teachers, and now, here they were! Working at the Annex and interacting with the teachers has been very enjoyable, but also very eye-opening. As much as we read and hear about the terrible economy, it truly personalizes the issue when teachers talk about how many of their students can’t afford even the most basic school supplies such as pencils and notebooks.

Working with Operation: Kid Equip has really made me feel that I am making a difference in the lives and education of children. And the fact that everyone in the organization is a volunteer tells me I am not alone in feeling that way. The level of commitment that Josh and Menachem have to their goal of helping children learn is truly inspiring, and makes you want to be a part of such a great cause. I will be working with them for many years to come!

Thanks to the recent article in the Detroit Free Press and the morning news coverage on WWJ, we have been flooded with phone calls and e-mails from teachers wondering if their school is eligible to shop at the Operation: Kid Equip Teachers’ Annex & Operations Center. It’s a great feeling to hear from teachers working hard for the continued success of their students.

Operation: Kid Equip started about 5 years ago as a simple backpack program hoping to help about 100 kids in Oakland County. Since then, we learned about the needs of our local students and were amazed at the number of students coming to school without school supplies.

As a growing organization, we stepped up our efforts and worked hard to procure enough school and classroom supplies to move from 100 backpacks to providing service to entire higher-poverty schools in Oakland and Macomb Counties. We now serve two complete counties and one partial county. This is a remarkable accomplishment for an organization less than 5 years old.

In order to decide on service area expansion, we had to analyze the needs in our original service area and in those areas we hope to expand into. According to the public data we have available, there are a total of approximately 115,000 on free/reduced lunch in Macomb and Oakland County combined. The total for Wayne County is approximately 180,000 children on free/reduced lunch.

With our core value of serving the overlooked and underserved, we have started working with schools/districts in Oakland and Macomb County with at least 70% of the students on free or reduced lunch. We also boldly started a controlled service expansion into Wayne County and initially selected a couple manageable school districts with 70% or more of the entire district population on free/reduced lunch. We have also collaboratively worked with other groups in the Downriver, Wayne/Westland and Livonia schools.

As you can imagine, some schools and districts that appear eligible are enormous in number and cannot be satisfactorily serviced by the Operation: Kid Equip program at this time. As part of our future plans, we are working for increased donor, volunteer and community response in order to continually expand our service area across all districts and schools in Southeastern Michigan. Our “infant” organization is not equipped with the necessary volume of supplies, volunteer and financial resources to favorably respond to every request made to the organization. We hope that changes in our future and in the future of our communities.

We appreciate your understanding and continued support of the Operation: Kid Equip program.

These entries are written by Grace, one of our buildOn Summer interns. She has been instrumental in helping prepare the Operation: Kid Equip Teachers’ Annex & Operations Center for opening. She will also start working with direct family distributions through the OKE Operations Center.

July 24, 2010

“And it just keeps coming…we’re getting so much stuff now, we just don’t have enough room to put everything We’re getting down to the last week, and everything’s just falling into place. It’s amazing how much this place has transformed from the day I walked in; the shelves used to be completely empty and the back rooms were completely full with boxes. For the last two weeks, the volunteers and I have been building more shelves, stocking books and merchandise, and putting backpacks together. Now the shelves are completely full and the back rooms…are kind of empty…

A couple of the 143 families came in to get backpacks and uniform shirts today for Family Saturday, and it felt really good giving them new merchandise and seeing the kids faces light up, knowing that they have what they need to get them through the year.

Only 8 more days until the grand opening!”

July 13, 2010:

“Even though I’ve only just started to intern at OKE, I can already tell how much of a difference it’s already made. I was able to see the warehouse last Friday, and it was just amazing seeing all of the books and school supplies that have come in. My first day, Rachana and I counted and sorted out 78 boxes containing over 4,000 multicolored adult and child t-shirts. My third day, we had so much fun unloading the boxes from the truck and finding such awesome items like piñatas; I can’t even imagine how excited the kids will be when they see them I know I’m going to learn so much at OKE and I can’t wait for the grand opening and my first backpack distribution to see our work finally pay off.”

We appreciate the enthusiasm Grace has already put into the Operation: Kid Equip program. Grace’s mother, Jenny, has also volunteered almost equal hours at OKE because of her daughter’s commitment and experience. Thanks to you both for helping to contribute to the success of our local kids in need.

Now we don’t have to use broken crayons
an Operation: Kid Equip Teacher Testimonial

Our students come to school without having the basics. Teacher’s pocket and any classroom supply budgets quickly disappear when a teacher is forced to spend their monies on pencils and paper. Not only do the students not have these supplies to use at school, but they do not have supplies to complete homework and projects at home.

These brand new supplies have helped with transition times. This is always a problem for many teachers.  When extra time is spent setting up and passing out “community” supplies to each children, there is less time spent on learning. I have noticed that we are able to get more done in a day. We are able to stay focused and not have to fight for attention. Simple squabbles are a thing of the past, because students are not forced to share their supplies with a neighboring student.

I received my supplies and I set out the piles of supplies on my small group table. The kids walked in chatting with friend, like they do everyday, but when they saw the table their jaws immediately dropped. The started asking questions like, “Who’s are these?” “Why are all these supplies in our room?” “Did YOU buy all the supplies for us?” I quickly answered them by explaining that since our classroom had a need for these basic supplies, I contacted a program called “Kid Equip” and they chose to send us supplies! The whole class cheered and ran to the table to look through their loot.

I stood back with tears in my eyes listening to what they were saying to their friends.

“Now we don’t have to use broken crayons.”

“Now I don’t have to share with HIM!”

“We can do ART!!!”

“THIS IS AWESOME!!”

“We are so lucky!”

“We need to tell them Thank You!”

Thank you so much Operation Kid Equip. Your generosity has given me the boost I needed to keep my creative nature alive in order to provide for the needs of my students.

Guest Post by Diane Nilan, Founder & President of HEAR US
HEAR US gives voice and visibility to homeless children and youth

I spent the July 4th holiday at a parade like countless other Americans. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, which I don’t do well, I volunteered to take pix for my sister and brother-in-law’s builder who wanted their 54 Chevy (or do I need to say Chevrolet?!) to pull his float. It was a beautiful day. The town of Blowing Rock, NC, quaint and vibrant, had people lining the streets, in some places 10-deep, to see this modest parade. Yet I was troubled….

First off, the white-faced crowd belies the reality of multiracial America. Where were people of color?

Most ironic for me, however, was the tree-house. Me, the voice in the wind on behalf of children without houses, accompanying a well-built domicile that will land in a stately tree in the builder’s backyard, an instant mecca for neighborhood kids. I’m not begrudging these kids their house, but I wonder what it will take to make sure all kids in America have a house, a secure modest place, to put their heads at night?

The latest grossly understated homeless government figures on the plight of homeless children, teens and adults reminds me of the pathetic attempts by BP to mask the dreadful reality of how much oil spills from the gushing Gulf well. Well, it’s not so bad. Like hell. Even 1 family is too many. Millions–unacceptable.

The Obama administration just released “Opening Doors,” a revised plan (pdf) on addressing skyrocketing homelessness, and they at least mention families, albeit minimizing the quantity that lack a place to call home. Furthermore, the resources to carry out the plan, well, let’s say we’ll have to wait and see. But if your family was the one experiencing homelessness, a wait-and-see attitude would be impossible. Outrage, yes. Patience, no.

Millions of kids this summer are spending their time dreading each day instead of splashing around in a cool pool. Their parents struggle for survival, and the kids pick up on that, absorbing anxiety instead of enjoying childhood. Night-by-night “plans” of where to sleep, day-by-day agendas of where to hang out, worrying that “back to school” time will be a battle because of a lack of permanent address. More and more kids are traumatized by homelessness and poverty…and some kids, by virtue of birth and “luck,” will have a place to call home, and a refuge in a tree to boot.

Seems to me that strengthening the human infrastructure of America should be the first task on our national agenda. Spending our nation’s dwindling resources destroying countries and killing in the name of peace haven’t proven effective for them or us. And it makes a lousy excuse that fails to explain why some kids have tree-houses and some have no houses.

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