August 3, 2023 By Carol Britton Meyer
A number of Hingham residents and local businesses are involved with and provide support for the East Bridgewater-based School on Wheels of Massachusetts, which provides tutoring, mentoring, and customized backpacks and supplies to students living in local family shelters and also to older students who are “couch surfing” or otherwise homeless. The average age of a homeless person in Massachusetts is 8.
More volunteers from Hingham are welcome to join this effort by offering a helping hand or to donate backpacks and back-to-school items as the first day of school fast approaches. (See flyer listing backpack needs posted with this article.)
“We’re in the throes of getting kids back to school,” SOWMA Marketing & Events Director Mal Stanton McCunney told the Hingham Anchor. “There’s an unprecedented number of requests for support this year for school supplies, and we’re in dire need of tutors, mentors, and backpacks given the influx in homelessness rates.”
McCunney, a former Cohasset resident who raised her children here, sits on the board of the Cohasset Rotary and is a member of the Cohasset Maritime Institute.
Hingham resident Athena Giannaros serves as SOWMA board chair. “Athena is the most caring, humble, and generous woman, and we are blessed to have her as a steward for our mission and work. She is an inspiration,” McCunney said. “Athena is devoting her free time as a mother of three to showcase how education sows the seeds for a brighter future for local children facing hardship and uncertainty.”
Of SOWMA’s 12 community shelter site locations where tutoring is offered, a few are convenient for Hingham and Cohasset residents who may wish to volunteer — Norwell, Rockland, and Weymouth.
“We also have shelters in Brockton and Plymouth, and for commuters, we offer tutoring opportunities in Boston and Dorchester,” McCunney said.
In addition to the communities mentioned above, SOWMA recently began offering tutoring at the Baymont Hotel in Kingston, where 100 migrants from Haiti have been residing since last fall. “Thus, we have a huge need for Haitian Creole-speaking tutors there,” she explained.
For individuals who cannot commit to tutoring for one hour once a week, SOWMA has a need for mentors to help guide a teen through high school, college, or vocational school. The time commitment is arranged by the mentor and mentee.
Thousands of requests for backpacks
SOWMA has already received requests for 7,648 backpacks from schools and agencies such as domestic violence shelters and foster care for students from kindergarten through college age this year. “That’s up 1,000 from last fall,” McCunney said. “We hope to accommodate at least 7,000 of these students.”
The list of needs includes everything from backpacks large enough to hold needed school supplies and a lunch box, earphones or earbuds, and erasers, pens, pencils, and crayons to zippered pencil pouches, glue sticks, and highlighters, rulers, binders, and calculators. (See attached flyer for details.)
“We especially need new young adult books and novels,” she said. “The backpacks are customized according to grade level, and we add an age-appropriate book to each one.”
Supplying back-to-school backpacks “helps level the playing field by keeping these kids prepared with the same new school supplies as their peers. For some students, the backpack serves as a personal locker, as many share one room at a shelter or motel with their family,” McCunney explained.
The need for support for these children and teens continues to increase. “There are so many ways to help, whether tutoring or mentoring a child, donating school supplies or a new book, or gathering your own kids to write notes of inspiration so that less fortunate peers can feel seen and valued,” McCunney said.
SOWMA has what she called a “fantastic” partnership with Buttonwood Books and Toys of Cohasset, where customers have an opportunity to purchase their favorite teen book to pass along to one of the students SOWMA serves.
The Hingham Jack Conway office, 321 Main St., is hosting its annual ice cream social — featuring treats from Nona’s Homemade ice cream truck — on Wednesday, Sept. 13, from 2:45 to 4 p.m.
“Jack Conway has supported SOWMA and other causes over the years, so we thought it would be a good idea to this year also collect backpacks and school items at the same time for anyone who might wish to make a donation,” Cohasset resident Karin Doonan, who manages the office, said. “It seemed like a perfect fit.” There’s also an outside drop-off box at the front of the 321 Main St. building. “Everyone is welcome to stop by to enjoy an ice cream,” Doonan said.
Giannaros thinks it’s important, especially for young people who volunteer for SOWMA, to understand that the work they are doing has an impact on someone else’s life, and that people from different backgrounds “can learn from one another” while offering help and support to someone less fortunate.
“You gain strength and knowledge from each other and enhance each other’s lives,” she said.
At last year’s SOWMA gala, Giannaros was presented with the “Champion for our Kids” award for going above and beyond with School on Wheels for many years and spreading its mission.
“A lot of the students we work with are living in their cars, holding jobs, and helping family members while going to school full-time,” she said. “The odds they beat in order to succeed are unbelievable, and many of them tell us they couldn’t have done it without SOWMA.”
There are currently a large number of students in the Bridge Mentoring Program, with some of the participants going on to earn a college degree.
“School on Wheels helps students research available scholarships, and we offer a ‘Soaring Scholars’ scholarship that is privately funded through a family who has donated the funds,” Program Coordinator Katie Young said. “Last year we were able to award five students with scholarships.”
Education Director Jonathan Vincent explained that SOWMA supports students in 21 family shelters and learning centers (which encompass community spaces and housing developments as well as refugee housing) and works with the Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore at the Norwell and Weymouth shelters.
“I’m so grateful for Athena and her compassionate care of our students. She is a true champion for our kids,” Vincent said.
“Growing up in Brockton and giving back to her hometown community spills over into her current hometown of Hingham. She is a positive example for countless students.”
For further information about tutoring, mentoring, and backpack donations, go to https://sowma.org/ or reach out to Vincent at jvincent@sowma.org (tutoring); Young at Kyoung@sowma.org (mentoring); or Barbara Fox at bfox@sowma.org (backpacks). All donations of time and backpack items are welcome and appreciated.