Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Episode 92: Canyons Resource Closet: A Storehouse of Hope for Students, Families in Need
No student should worry about attending school hungry or without access to basic necessities.
But a growing number do, which is why Canyons School District created a the Resource Closet, a central storehouse of food and hygiene items and school supplies that Canyons schools can draw upon to replenish their pantries or extend a little emergency support to students and families in need.
Homelessness is a growing problem. Every year in America, an estimated 4.2 million youth and young adults experience homelessness. In Utah, according to the Crossroads Urban Center, the number of families with children who use emergency homelessness services increased by 30 percent from 2021 to 2022.
“With inflation, homelessness, and food insecurity on the rise, more families are struggling financially,” said Michele Vogeler, CSD’s Community Schools Specialist. “And not just in our Title I schools. There are students experiencing homelessness in every one of the schools here in the Canyons District.”
In this episode of Connect Canyons, we sit down with Vogeler and Canyons Education Foundation Officer Denise Haycock who partners with Vogeler on keeping the Resource Closet replenished.
“One of the best things the Education Foundation does, is to help our students in need,” says Haycock. “If there's a student out there that needs some help with school supplies or clothing or something like that, we also want to take care of those needs so they can be successful in school."
Episode Chapters
00:00 – Introduction
We discuss the rising number of families facing homelessness and economic hardships.
00:45 - Meet the Guests
Haycock and Vogler go over how they work to help students and families within the Canyons community.
02:31 - About the Resource Closet
We learn about how the Resource Closet came to be and how the Canyons Education Foundation and Federal and State Programs work together to support the community.
04:45 - Items in the Closet
Vogler and Haycock talk about the items available for families in the Resource Closet, from shoes and hats to school supplies and laundry detergent.
06:00 - Utilizing the Resource Closet
We learn how schools work with Haycock and Vogler to request items for students and families and how they work to ensure requests are properly fulfilled.
31:11 - Donating to the Closet
Community members can donate to the Resource Closet whether with in-kind donations, monetary donations, or gift cards staff can use to fill immediate requests.
36:52 - Impact and Outreach
Hancock and Vogler share how they’ve seen the Resource Closet impact the community and marvel at how members of the community step up to help one another.
The Resource Closet is always in need of in-kind as well as monetary donations. To make a monetary donation, click here. If you would like to donate an in-kind donation of shoes, supplies of any sort, or gift cards, contact Vogeler or Haycock.
Denise Haycock – Development Officer, Canyons Education Foundation
denise.haycock@canyonsdistrict.org
801-826-5178
Michele Vogeler - Community Schools Specialist, Canyons School District
michele.vogeler@canyonsdistrict.org
801-826-5023
Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyons School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why we get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Connect Canyons. I'm your host, frances Cook. Here in the Canyons School District, we are also seeing an increase in the number of students facing homelessness, as well as the number of families who are facing economic and financial hardships, and not just in our Title I schools. There are students experiencing homelessness in every one of the schools here in the Canyons District. The district has a number of resources available to our students and our families who are struggling financially, and today we're focusing on one of those. The resource closet Joining me today is Denise Haycock, development Officer for the Canyons Education Foundation, and Michelle Vogler, community Schools Specialist with Federal and State Programs. Thank you both for joining us. Okay, so let's start with what you both do. Denise, would you tell us a little bit about the Canyons Education Foundation and your role?
Speaker 3:Sure. So the Canyons Education Foundation is the fundraising arm of Canyons School District, so we're a non-profit entity. It's a place for people to donate to the school district through an offer. Our main mission statement is to enhance the education for students and teachers in Canyon School District. We do that in a variety of ways. We give out scholarships, we give out innovation grants, we provide Teacher of the Year awards. So it's a lot of giving, but it's also a lot of requesting of businesses and community to help us out. One of the best things that we do is to help our students. So if there's a student out there that needs some help with school supplies or clothing or something, like that we also want to take care of those needs so they can be successful in school.
Speaker 2:Michelle, how about you? Would you tell us about your work?
Speaker 4:Yeah, so I help to support the eight community schools here in the district, which are mainly our five Title I elementaries plus two middle schools and the high school. That all feed into each other. We really look at trying to get conditions right for learning for kids. We want those students to be successful in school, so whatever the needs are for that student or those families, we try to help to support those. So anywhere from clothing to medical, dental, vision support, to connecting them to community resources, ensuring that those barriers are reduced so that students can get access to the things they need, not only at school but in their community as a whole. Part of that work, then, is also then supporting students across the district with those same types of needs and helping to make those connections to those students as well.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about the resource closet. How did it come to be?
Speaker 3:closet. How did it come to be? We were finding, between Michelle and I, that I'm getting donations and people are contacting me and saying we want to do a donation drive for you, we want to provide coats for you, we want to give you food. So I'm collecting all of these items and maybe I have some things I'm like I don't quite have a need for that right now. Michelle's over there collecting things and she's like okay, I've got these things. We just started talking and we're like I don't quite have a need for that right now. Michelle's over there collecting things and she's okay, I've got these things. We just started talking and we're like we need to combine our efforts. Let's just bring everything together for all the students in Canyons District and just make it easily accessible. So when we started talking, that's when we created we're going to combine. We're going to give people a QR code, a way to let us know what they need and have it in one location and we can fill orders.
Speaker 4:And it has been a wonderful thing for to have that combined effort from the two groups think, in addition to that, denise, I think also when we looked at it, we felt like there was a little bit of a divide, if you will. So people who wanted to support community schools or people who had needs in the community schools would come to me and if it was anywhere else in the district they'd go to Denise. And as we were talking when you mentioned combining efforts, and I think really truly, we wanted a one-stop shop for any student in the district who had a need, for any school that says you know what? I have a kid who needs whatever it was that they needed. We wanted one place for those people to say you know what? I know I can scan this QR code or go to this link and I can request those items, and either Denise or Michelle are going to work together to fill that through the resource closet.
Speaker 3:Truly was for our district administrators and principals, because they were calling all over the place. Like my child, I have a student that needs this or we need that, and so this just eliminates that for them. So it makes for our social workers, our psychologists, our teachers and our principals easily accessible. They don't have to figure out who to call, they just zero in on this.
Speaker 2:That's fantastic. Let's talk about what's in the closet. It goes way beyond just coats and shoes.
Speaker 4:Absolutely so. Really, as we collect items, we are looking, of course, at things like clothing, shoes, socks, underwear, winter items such as hats and gloves. But we're also looking beyond that in terms of hygiene items, so shampoos and conditioners, toothbrushes, toothpaste, brushes, deodorant any of those hygiene type items. And then we also look at items, things like dish soap, laundry detergent, and that really came from years as community schools really looking at what are the needs really as a family unit around students being able to come to school with clean clothing or being able to take care of those needs at home. So we look at those kinds of items as well. We also have food, bath towels those kinds of items, feminine hygiene products all of those things that really are trying to help students take care of those needs to be able to come to school and be successful.
Speaker 3:We have school supplies. So if they need a backpack, they need whatever they need to be successful in school, from calculators to pencils and notebooks. We also stock all of that.
Speaker 2:Like you said, a one-stop shop. You've got a little bit of everything. That's really wonderful. So you mentioned QR codes and links. How are our schools utilizing the resource closet? What's that process like?
Speaker 4:The main process for schools is we do have a QR code that they can scan. It takes them right to a Google form where they can fill out all of the information on a particular student, so anywhere from whatever they need, based on items that we stock, as well as sizing for clothing and shoes, and so schools are really accessing that and we have seen quite the response from schools to be able to actually use that and they say that it works pretty seamlessly around being able to get access to that. We try to turn over orders pretty quickly when we have our high if you will request times, beginning of the year, around the holidays, those kinds of things sometimes it can take us a week or two, but we're trying to get that turned around as quickly as possible we try and get the word out to principals at principal-level meetings.
Speaker 3:We go to the opening in services for the nurses and the school psychs and the social workers, just so they know that we're out there. Then we give them a flyer. Keep this on hand. Also, school secretaries are right there at the front line. They see a lot. So we just try and get our messaging out internally as best we can. So all of the orders do need to come through a Canyons person. The families don't necessarily request things, but they go to their school and then the school filters it to us.
Speaker 2:So if a family member is hearing this and going my son needs shoes or we could use some help with this. You're saying the best way for them to go about that is then to contact their school directly.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so everything comes through a Canyons District employee and part of the reason for that is we want the schools to be aware of student needs so that they can continue to support in other ways and really connect with that family. We want those families to have that relationship with the school so that's their stop to go to and then the school can reach out to us for those other needs.
Speaker 3:You'll also have people in the same school who might make the same request for the same trial, and so then we can see okay, there are multiple people requesting items for this student. We can just complete this one order, so then it also streamlines it for us to see, like, where's the need.
Speaker 2:Very nice. So what are some of the highest needs that you're seeing? I know that can change by the season, but can you go through, maybe, what those changes are and if there's anything that it doesn't matter what time of year you're always in need of it?
Speaker 4:I would say that, truly, it doesn't matter what time of year we get donations, because we have a housing place, if you will, where we can keep those items. So even if someone is donating an item in the summertime that's a winter item, then we have the ability to hold on to that. The other thing we notice, of course, is that beginning of the school year and holiday times is when we get many of our donations, but we have needs throughout the entire school year, and so, for us to be able to have items, we have them organized by size. So those kinds of things it doesn't really matter. I don't I wouldn't want anyone to think they couldn't donate something they have at any given time for the closet Needs definitely ebb and flow in terms of what students need.
Speaker 4:Obviously, school supplies hit hard in the fall, but we also get, with our population of families experiencing homelessness, as well as our population of refugee families that are coming into our schools. We get new students, many new students throughout the school year, and those needs aren't school supply needs, aren't just September or August, and so, truly, other than maybe winter coats, so truly, things are being used all throughout the year. Shoes it's difficult sometimes with sizes. So we're always looking for shoes, clothing. When we look at clothing, I would say our clothing for our middle school and high school kids tends to always be a higher need just because we get less of it Sweatpants and shirts, plain shirts with no logos, things like that, things that the kids are really looking for. So it just it changes, but also is consistent throughout the year.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about how people can donate the year. So let's talk about how people can donate. How do you want them to go about providing those items? Do they need to be new items? Denise, can you touch on that?
Speaker 3:Sure, I'd be happy to. So there's basically two types of donations there's in-kind and cash donations.
Speaker 3:An in-kind donation is anything that would be a product or an item anything from your shampoo to your coats, to shoes and whatnot so all in-kind items do need to be new. We feel like our students deserve to have new items, and so we ask that anyone that wants to bring in those type of items they can work through either Michelle or myself and we can get those to the students in need. The other thing that we really appreciate is cash donations, because if there's the one-off where maybe we don't have the right size or we're a shoe or we're low on this particular type of food and we need to help some families, if we have some either gift cards or cash donations then we have the ability to go and get that immediately.
Speaker 3:And any type of cash donation can be made through the foundation website foundationcanyonsdistrictorg, and there's a section on there just for the resource closet, so you can tell us where you want your donation to go. And then Michelle and I both have access to those funds to be able to get exactly what is needed.
Speaker 4:And I would say Denise mentioned gift cards. Those work as well. Some people prefer to do that. We really look for gift cards to Walmart, target or Smith's. We narrow that down. Those are areas in which we can get, obviously, food or clothing, shoes, things like that. Oftentimes, what it comes down to is just not having a particular size or maybe we've run out of laundry detergent or whatever that looks like, and that's also very helpful and we track that very closely to make sure that all of those funds and all of those gift cards are going directly to filling orders and requests that have come from schools.
Speaker 2:So if a company or a family has some of the in-kind donations that they would like to get to you, how do they go about doing that?
Speaker 3:They can contact us either by phone or by email and we can put that information out there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so you can contact me, Michelle, at 801-826-5023, or you can email me at michellevogler at canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 3:And my direct line is 801-826-5178. That's for Denise and my email is denisehaycock at canyonsdistrictorg and my email is denisehaycock at canyonsdistrictorg. They could also, if they want to bring something to the district office, they can do that. Our receptionists know who the foundation is and they call me and say somebody has left something here, and again we just ask that it's new and then we will put it into our closet and make sure it gets to students. We do have a lot of different community groups churches, businesses that like to do donation drives for us, which is fantastic, and so when they reach out and want to do that, then we can let them know what particular need we have at that given time.
Speaker 2:That's really wonderful that there are so many groups that are willing to give back, and we'll put your contact information in the write-up for the podcast as well. Last year alone, the Resource Closet helped 1,011 students just last year and that's across the board in all of our schools and that's so impressive to me. Could you speak to how you have seen the closet impacting the community?
Speaker 4:Yeah, it has been wonderful for schools. Every time I walk into a school with a request, they're just so grateful to have a place to actually go to fill their request for families. They would come to Denise or they might come to me asking for items, but we really didn't have an avenue to do it in a systematic way and many schools wouldn't reach out because they just didn't know that was available. The impact, I think, for obviously our schools to be able to access items for families has been huge. But also we receive a lot of feedback from schools, from families who are just incredibly grateful to be able to have items for their students to be successful, but also just feeling supported in their schools, and one of the things and I mentioned earlier when we started community schools 10 years ago was really wanting to get conditions right for learning, and I believe that you know the foundation feels the same way in terms of wanting to help students and families, and so this allows us to do it across the district in a very systematic way.
Speaker 4:I really think as well that we've gotten a lot of feedback from the community that where they feel like they have a way to give to their local students and families. We get information from businesses and local community organizations who have said prior to this we were always looking for ways to give, but we weren't really sure exactly how to do it, and so community members as well really feel, I think, the impact of being able to give right within their cities and understanding that there's need. I think sometimes there's a misunderstanding around Canyons District and that there isn't as much need here, but when we start to look at these statistics of families that are needing help, or our population of families experiencing homelessness or economic hardships, you start to realize that there's a lot of need right within your own cities, and so I feel like it's impacted. You know multiple stakeholders, if you will, working for the same goal multiple stakeholders, if you will, working for the same goal.
Speaker 3:I think it's helped us be able to track and see the need at the different schools, because I think that helps our messaging that it's not just these four or five schools that everybody wants to give to and so they make it way more than they could possibly use, but for us to be able to track and say there are students throughout the entire district that are using the resource closet and we are helping so many more kids with this. That's really nice to have that data now and we're fairly new into this. This is we started it and we feel like we're in a really good place at this point with our resource closet.
Speaker 2:That's really great. What would you say to students or families who may be hesitant about reaching out for help? That can be really hard for some people to do.
Speaker 3:We are more than happy to help. There is no judgment. There is. Just get what you need to be successful in school. If it's a hoodie or a blanket for winter because kids don't wear coats in winter right, get them a hoodie, give them a blanket and they'll be happy we have it. We want to give, we want to make sure you have what you need, so don't hesitate. Nobody is thinking twice about it. It's an easy process and it's really just the best way to give when you want to be successful.
Speaker 4:And I think schools your folks in your schools want to help as well, and they want to help to figure out how and what can be done to support students to be successful. Right, that's their end goal. They want kids to be at school eager to learn and excited, and being able to provide some of these items to make that happen is an easy fix. If you will, we can do that, and now they feel I think schools also feel confident to know where to reach out and get that, and so it's really reduced barriers, I believe, not only for families but for schools as well, to feel like they can really help those basic needs and make sure that students have those items.
Speaker 2:Is there anything else you'd like to add about the closet or want people to know? I?
Speaker 3:know for the foundation, where we were all about innovation in the classroom and doing more. And then COVID hit and we realized people needed food and they need basic supplies and that was a shift for us in the foundation to get back to that basic need level and that unless those basic needs are met, nothing else matters. So when we took that on and started hitting those basic needs, it's just been a feel good and it's working and it's the right thing to do.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and as community schools. When we started this model 10 years ago, that was the idea is how do we get basic needs met for families? And so it's been great then to connect and really create this partnership with the foundation and really ensure that we're doing that across the board to support any family who needs that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And those needs don't end just because a pandemic ends, that's correct. I want to thank you both for being here. We know asking for help can be a difficult obstacle for some, but it's really beautiful to see how many resources are available to our Canyons community and we're grateful for all the work that you both do. And thank you for listening. If there's something you'd like to hear discussed on the podcast, send us an email to communications at canyonsdistrictorg.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, facebook or Instagram at Canyons District or on our website, canyonsdistrictorg.
