For a lot of families, this is the season of fresh notebooks and first-day photos, the small rituals that mark the start of another school year. It’s easy to picture it as one shared moment, but across our shelters, back-to-school doesn’t arrive on a single calendar. For some of the children in our care, these weeks bring the excitement of a brand-new year, while for others the school year is already well underway or follows a rhythm that looks nothing like the one many of us grew up with. What holds steady across all of it, wherever the children are and whatever the calendar says, is that they have a place to learn and someone making sure they get there.
That last part matters more than it might seem. For a child who has known real instability, school is one of the first places where ordinary life becomes possible again. It’s somewhere to be on time to, with faces that stay the same from one day to the next and a reason to practice reading a little every evening. For the roughly 270 children we’re caring for right now, the start or the continuation of a school year isn’t a given they’ve always been able to count on. It’s something made possible by people who decided these children were worth the steadiness.
Getting a child ready for school looks a little different in each place we work, but the heart of it is the same everywhere. There are uniforms to sort out and supplies to gather, caregivers who already know which child struggles with which subject and quietly make sure no one falls behind simply because life got hard. None of that happens on its own. It happens because a community keeps showing up for it, month after month, long after the first-day excitement has faded.
Which is part of why we’re already looking ahead to our annual benefit auction on November 8. It’s one of the ways we keep this kind of care funded through the whole year, and it depends on the generosity of people and businesses who have something to give. If you have a new item or a service to offer, somewhere in the range of about $50 to $200, we’d love to include it. And there’s a real advantage to letting us know early: anything we receive by September 13 can be photographed, written up, and featured in our auction catalog and previews, which is what actually gets it in front of bidders and helps it raise the most for the children. Reaching out sooner simply gives your gift more room to do good.
If you’d like to donate something, or you’re just not sure whether what you have is a fit, you can reach Bailey Fraccascia or Lara Justesen, email us at projectnic@heartoflife.org, or use the contact form at project-nic.org. We’re always glad to talk it through.
There’s something hopeful about the start of a school year, about the quiet belief that a child’s story is still being written and that the next chapter can be better than the last. That’s the belief we get to act on every day, and we’re grateful for everyone who helps us keep acting on it.
