Project Rousseau

We had some lovely new families join us at the office today! We met them while dropping off supplies for their neighbor at the homeless shelter. Holidays can sometimes be hard to manage with the kids out of school, but we had so much fun at the office! They watched a few movies and raided our fully-stocked kitchen for food and snacks. We are also so grateful we got to send them home with some supplies, including bedding, clothes, female hygiene products, and diapers!

We toured Princeton last week! A huge shoutout to Samantha (Class of 2024) from Budding Branches, who took the time to speak to our students about her college experience.

“Look, they include the housekeeping staff and kitchen staff on here!” - one of our students as we examined the composite photographs at the entrance of an eating club

Michal and his mother are one of a handful of Ukrainian families to have made it to New York. They fled their hometown in the early days on the conflict leaving his father behind. Michal’s mother is fortunate to have a friend in New York with whom she is staying while she finds more stable housing. We are supporting Michal’s mother to enroll him in a PreK program and find activities for Michal to continue his love of sport. Here, Michal is playing and reading with one of our older students, herself a refugee. She fled a war in her own country when she was not much older than Michal.

The past few weeks have been far from normal for Michal, however, his mother is determined to protect him from the horror unfolding in his country and continue his everyday activities. We are doing all that we can to support her in this goal and hope that she can achieve her aim of returning home to Ukraine in the not too distant future.

Today we were extremely fortunate to receive a donation of warm winter clothing from Collegiate School New York

These coats have gone straight to many of our students in-need, such as Arturo who fled cartel-violence in his home country this summer. Despite not having permanent housing since he arrived in NYC and facing chronic food insecurity, Arturo is working incredibly hard to learn English and achieve his high school diploma; he brightens up our office everyday after school with his radiant personality and eagerness to learn.

Also taking coats home today were Juana’s and Alma, two sisters who escaped violence in their home country on foot in the midst of the pandemic with Sara’s two-year old son. Their journey to the US was treacherous and they were forcibly separated for many months, however, the sisters are now reunited in a NYC shelter and will soon enrol community college in their quest to build stability for Juana’s son.

Finally, Imani, who lives in a shelter with her three-year old, was so excited to have a choice of coats today. She told our Student Needs Coordinator that this is the first-time ever she has been able to choose what she will wear to school tomorrow.