When one thinks of children and education, a vision of desks, books, whiteboards and sometimes quiet comes easily to mind. The East Clinton School children are busy in the classroom learning about math, science, English and similar topics on a daily basis, but a large group of these students from the New Vienna and Sabina Elementary Schools learn these necessary skills as well as a wonderful social skill called “giving back”. After classes on Tuesdays or Wednesdays—depending on the building—40 to 60 students participate in an after-school program called Kids Care, directed by longtime educator Mrs. Cheryl Roberts. The program begins promptly after the buses depart from each respective campus.
According to Mrs. Roberts, the program started in 2011 and averages 50 fourth and fifth graders. They can be found embellishing placemats for the Sabina Historical Society dinner and decorating cards for county wide meals to celebrate Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine’s Day and other seasons. These may be simple arts and craft projects, but the kids are proud of other undertakings that they have accomplished over the years. They have raised money for NOWZAD that unites Veterans with pets they have adopted in Afghanistan. They sponsored 2 students to attend the therapeutic Equine Camp at Wilmington College. Money was raised to pay for food, vet card and grooming for PTSD service dogs at Got Your Six. One year they sent Veterans on the Honor Flight. Money was raised for Stillwater Sables and Small Steps for Great Leaps Equine Therapy programs in Clinton and Highland County. They have kept the land lab pond stocked with fish. This is only a small listing of the projects the after-school program has accomplished over the years.
A few months ago, Mrs. Roberts contacted Habitat for Humanity – Clinton County’s President, Cecilia Krusling, with a request to help raise money to build a home in Clinton County. HFH-CC builds homes for low-income families in Clinton County who would otherwise never have the opportunity to purchase their own home. The family must support the HFH-CC mission to work in partnership with this ecumenical Christian housing ministry, participate in building the home and be able to repay the cost of the home with an interest free loan. The students learned that these homes are not given away but must be paid back with money and many volunteer hours on the construction site as well as other HFH-CC fundraisers and events. HFH-CC is a nonprofit organization designed to create decent, affordable housing for those in need and always striving to raise money to build more homes. These homes are built by volunteers who, like the Kid’s Care children, love working together, share many skills and strive to make our community a better place to live.
The children were exposed to several educational sessions about Habitat, how it started and what it does, not only locally in Clinton County, but around the world. The attendees learned that the 50th home scheduled to be built in 2025 would be the future home for a young student in the Sabina school. During the winter months, the children made copies of hammers and asked their family and friends to make a donation in exchange for having the donor’s name written on the respective hammer which was hung in the school. At the Sabina school, the back wall behind the stage was covered with colorful hammers representing a large amount of the total donation of $1136.74 towards building home number 50.
The students were given the opportunity to sign their names too but instead of paper hammers, the students used four 2x4’s which will be used in the construction of the new home. Unfortunately, OSHA guidelines do not permit anyone under the age of 16 to work on the job site, so the 4 timbers were brought by Cecilia to the meetings for the students to sign and on Saturday April 26, the 2x4’s were used, as requested by the students, in the structure of the home walls.
A relationship was started with this East Clinton Elementary School social school program and HFH-CC and their kindness may be felt by the family of six, after the home is completed and they are able to sleep in a comfortable warm home they can call their own.
