Homeless in paradise - Part 2

Chris Curle / Special to the Eagle

Marco Chamber of Commerce President Joyce McFarland, owner of Marco Island Clothing, hopes many Islanders will donate $10 gift cards from grocery or drug stores that the homeless children can use to buy school essentials.

Chris Curle / Special to the Eagle

Lisa and Rick Popoff at their salon in the Esplanade. Homeless children can get gift cards for “back to school” haircuts. “We use gift cards so they don’t feel uncomfortable when they come in and won’t be embarrassed to get it free,” Rick explains.

Submitted

Comedian Gary Owen will be entertaining to raise money for Marco’s homeless children, September 10, at the Off the Hook Comedy Club. Proprietor Brien Spina is donating $15 of each ticket sold to the cause.

Chris Curle / Special to the Eagle

Marco Island dentist, Dr. Megan Welker, is offering free dental screenings to homeless children before they go back to school here.

This is part 2 of a special report on a problem here that comes as a surprise to many people in and near Marco Island – homeless children in our public schools. Some are under the radar, embarrassed to not have a stable, consistent place to sleep and eat.

Experts estimate 30 or so homeless children will be attending Tommie Barfield Elementary when classes begin in August. Some sleep in cars or at motels or shelters or with friends.

When two women from the Marco Chamber of Commerce discovered the problem and realized it might get worse, they created their Help and Hope project.

Chamber staffer Donna Niemczyk and executive director Sandi Reidemann began spreading the word. Island organizations and individuals are responding, including Sunrise Rotary, Kiwanis and the Upon a Star Foundation. Each of those organizations is donating $1,000 to the cause, which is to raise money for school supplies and other basic needs.

Also, Kiwanis is getting creative with used printer cartridges. The members are collecting them to take advantage of a Staples store promotion, giving $30 gift cards for every 10 cartridges brought in for recycling. The gift cards will go to the school supplies project.

You can get involved by taking your spent cartridges to the Chamber of Commerce office, to Slocum-Christian builders or Kathleen Reynolds Hair Studio and Kiwanis will do the rest. Also:

- A major bake sale is in the works to raise funds for the kids’ needs, thanks to Lenice DeLuca, an accountant at Rogeers Wood Hill Starman and Gustason CPA.

“We’re hoping to get most of the tenants in our building, Island Towers office building on Bald Eagle Drive, to take part in a bake sale on July 24 at Regions Bank,” Lenice tells us. “I read about the homeless kids and realized we just have to do something to help.”

- Rick and Lisa Popoff, owners of Rick’s Island Salon at the Esplanade, are providing gift cards for homeless kids.

“Kids look forward to their haircuts before they go to school,” says Rick, whose daughters went through the public schools here. “It’s almost as important to them as how they dress, so we want them to have good back-to-school haircuts.”

- Brien Spina is bringing in a PG-rated standup comedian for a special show Sept. 10 at the Off the Hook Comedy Club in Marco Walk.

The headliner for the fundraising event is a popular young performer Gary Owen. For his Sept. 10 show, the Help and Hope project for our homeless children will get $15 of the $20 admission price.

Capt. Brien’s general manager, Karla Carrender, says tickets will be available at the Chamber of Commerce.

- Dr. Megan Welker, a dentist on Marco, is donating free dental screenings for the homeless children.

“It’s basically an initial clinical exam, a checkup to see how the children’s teeth are and what they need,” says Dr. Welker, “and we’ll work with the Chamber on that.”

- The Costco store in Naples has donated 100 backpacks for the homeless children here, part of a nationwide Costco project.

Matt Nemmers, general manager of the Naples Costco, says his staff has visited every elementary school in Collier County and will give away about 700 backpacks here.

- The Uniforms Unlimited store is giving the equivalent of a 20 to 30 percent discount on school uniforms with a voucher program for the needy kids.

“We’ve been working with the school district for several years,” says Store Manager Andy Dick. “It’s a good program and we’re happy to help.”

School begins here August 24th and by that time the Chamber hopes to have the supplies the kids will need.

“We’ll have backpacks stocked with supplies and ready to go,” says Donna Niemczyk. “We also need general hygiene supplies, such as deodorant, toothbrushes and soap.

“We’re also asking for $10 gift cards donated for Publix or Wal-Mart, etc., so school counselors can give them to kids who need money for food or personal items.”

Donations also can be made by check to the “Help & Hope” campaign at Marco Community Bank.

The wish lists are long and varied. Karen Morgan, the county school district’s liaison with education needs of homeless children, notes that around the county, students need shoes, socks and underwear, even money for field trips and sports.

“We need use of an 8X10 air conditioned storage facility to store the donations of clothing and such,” Morgan notes.

Administrators at Tommie Barfield and at the Charter Middle School have specific school supply lists for kids at each grade level.

There’s no evidence that the homeless children problem will ease anytime soon. Some homeless families have left this area to find jobs and cheaper living costs elsewhere and school population reflects that.

Some educators, however, say some of those who left have been trickling back.

Karen Morgan estimates that Collier County schools will have 20 percent more legally homeless students in the coming term than the 812 identified at the end of the last school year. So the need is great and may get greater.

When it comes to helping others, one of the most often heard sayings is a Scottish proverb, “Charity begins at home.” Truth is, that’s only half the original wise message.

Apropros of the homeless children situation, the entire proverb reads:

“Charity begins at home, but shouldn’t end there.”