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There are some causes that we here at the Times Leader feel passionately about, as an organization and as individuals.
One of them is the United Way of Wyoming Valley’s “Poverty to Possibility” initiative, which was launched four years ago to help our region’s children overcome the liabilities that so often haunt members of low-income families from generation to generation.
We’re going to keep banging this drum because we believe strongly in this cause and in its potential to transform lives.
The latest project under the initiative, titled “Loads of Love,” was spotlighted by the agency on Monday. Under this project, the United Way has installed washing machines and dryers in all five Wilkes-Barre elementary schools so students can always have access to clean school clothes.
If you have always enjoyed the benefits of a working washer and dryer at home, this may not seem like a big deal.
There are families who don’t, and who may not always have the cash to visit the laundromat. That means there are children in our community who don’t always have clean clothes to wear.
According to Bill Jones, United Way president and CEO, the school district informed his organizations that many students have a limited number of clothes and that those clothes are often dirty due to limited access to washing facilities.
Think back to when you were a kid. Think about what that would have felt like, how it would have affected your self-esteem.
Maybe you knew kids from “poor” families who dressed badly and didn’t smell so good. How did you treat them? How did others treat them?
Chances are, those kids suffered some bullying. Maybe a lot of bullying. The reality is, many still do. Jones and his group hope to mitigate that.
“When kids know their clothes have a bit of an odor they don’t want to go to school,” Jones told reporter Connor Moffitt. “And when you can’t go to school you can’t learn.”
“We hope it well help these kids feel good about school and reduce embarrassment, isolation and bullying,” Jones added. “If we can help these students we can reduce absenteeism; if they’re in school they will learn more and be more confident.”
Loads of Love is part of the United Way’s larger “Nurse’s Pantry” program, which provides schools with basic apparel and hygiene items that can be given to students in need. It includes modest goods like lice treatment, soap, shampoos and polo shirts to be stocked away in closets of Wilkes-Barre Area’s school nurses’ offices.
Only the most cynical, callous or ignorant could object to such efforts.
The reality is, schools are underfunded.
The reality is, poverty is a major problem in Luzerne County.
As we noted recently, the percentage of children under 18 who live below the federal poverty level is 28.8 percent, a rate that has doubled since 2000.
As we have also said, it will take time to see how much of an effect these programs have on local students. We feel there is an obligation to do everything we can to help the neediest among us.
In a perfect world, schools would have all the funding and supplies they need, and all children would show up clean and well fed and ready to learn.
The world isn’t perfect. We believe in supporting the United Way’s creative efforts to help make it a better place for many, especially children.
— Times Leader