Multiple districts — As another school year ends, district leaders from Kenowa Hills and Grandville public schools want their families to feel heard, supported and connected.
That hope inspired two elementary principals from schools in Walker to invite families to a series of meetings this year, where they provided a meal to share, offered free child care and facilitated conversations.
Kenowa Hills Zinser Elementary Principal Brooke Johnston, who lives within walking distance from her school, said the initiative was inspired by a survey taken by the Walker arm of HOPE Collaborative.
The local group is made up of area churches, businesses, police departments and the city of Walker and works to empower and strengthen families in the community. After only a year since forming the partnership, the Walker HOPE Collaborative has organized community cleanups, donated to food pantries and hosted family nights.
“We surveyed the community and heard the greatest need was help with mental health issues, housing and food insecurity,” Johnston said. “The collaborative brainstormed some initiatives as a response, and at Zinser we felt like we could help by inviting families to join us for dinner.”
Grandville Cummings Elementary Principal Alan Bosker said the Family LIFE Nights brought nine families from three schools in Walker together with the goal to strengthen support systems among individual households, schools and the greater community.
At each evening event, volunteer caregivers planned activities outside and in the gym for kids, while the parents held discussions. Each family also walked away from every meeting with locally donated food, gift cards or toys.
“We love the connections we have made with our Zinser families,” Johnston said. “We have had some great conversations and have built deeper relationships.”
Kenowa Hills Alpine Elementary parent Zanovia Hall heard about the first Family LIFE Night event earlier this school year while attending a community night with her two kids, Marshall and Maddy.
She attended all four events hosted this school year at Zinser Elementary.
“I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect at all, but I was pleasantly surprised with the content,” Hall said. “I loved connecting with other families, school staff and community volunteers, and I accidentally gained a new friend through similar challenges, so we can support each other.”
Hall also said she was not aware of all the resources available to her family in her kids’ school, like the Student Assistance Program through Pine Rest, after-school programs and partnerships with Kent District Library.
“We are a community, and our children are our future. We need to love on them and support them in ways we may not have realized they needed, because times are different from when we grew up,” she said.
Hall said after participating in all four events she feels “much more aware” of her own interactions with her children and is working to be “more attentive and intentional with what I say and do.”
She added, “I pray it’s carried throughout years to come so other families have an opportunity to learn and grow together.”
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