Quarters for Kids

How can you say "no" to this face?

During the 2009-2010 school year, 76,095 students were identified as homeless across Texas public schools. Our friends at the Texas Homeless Education Office (THEO) have done their research and believe homeless students are under-identified and that three to four percent of the Texas public school population meets the McKinney-Vento definition of homelessness which includes children living in shelters, sleeping on a couch or floor of friends or family, living in cars or on the street, and in motels or other substandard housing. THEO believes the actual number of homeless children and youth enrolled during the 2009-2010 school year was between 140,000 and 190,000 in Texas. The median age of children and youth (18 and under) experiencing homelessness is seven.

Meet Sonny. Santino "Sonny" Camacho is just like many other 9 year-olds. He loves riding his scooter, playing video games, football and superheroes, watching cartoons and baseball, eating candy and pizza, doing science things (looking at stuff through microscopes and doing experiments), and learning to ride his skateboard. He doesn't like most vegetables, getting up and going to bed early, spelling tests and math problems. He gets nervous in front of large crowds and gets into trouble - sometimes.

Unlike many 9 year-olds, he often thinks about kids who don't have a home and worries about what is going to happen to them. When he told his mom he would like to help, they contacted Texas Homeless Network. 

Sonny challenges you to help!

Donations will go to help Texas Homeless Network:

• Advocate on behalf of the homeless population
• Provide trainings to keep children experiencing homelessness in school 
• Provide trainings to homeless service providers about accessing SSI/SSDI benefits for adults and children who qualify so they can get into housing
• Provide scholarship money for people who have been or currently are homeless and for employees of small agencies to attend trainings and the annual conference