HOPE comes to Don Lugo High for students in need

Two new opportunities to serve Don Lugo High students in need and their families begin this school year at the Chino school.

A HOPE Family Resource Center, providing social service assistance and referrals, just began operating in the school’s Parent Engagement Center in room 64, at 13400 Pipeline Ave., Chino. Center hours are 8:00 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday. Afternoon appointments are available by calling the main HOPE Center office at (909) 628-1201, ext. 8960.

The KARIN Closet, offering students and their families clothing, emergency hygiene items, food, and school supplies, will open later this fall in room 75.

The name of the closet is an acronym for the student leadership groups at Don Lugo (Key Club, AVID, Renaissance, Interact Club, and the National Honors Society).

In the 2016-2017 school year, those groups volunteered to separate canned foods, clothing, and hygiene supplies for the closet. This school year, the groups plan to sort donations, assist with the operation of the closet, as well as organize and clean it.

A ribbon cutting for both the HOPE Resource Center and the KARIN Closet will be held later this school year, at a date to be determined.

The Hope Resource Centers are the result of efforts by Superintendent Wayne Joseph to help families in need in the school district after realizing that many academic problems stem from issues children have at home. In February 2014, he established a HOPE (Helping Our People Everyday) Committee of local community leaders to address those issues, and in November of that year, the school district opened five HOPE Resource Centers at five schools sites with $250,000 it had set aside for the project.

Each center is manned by a bilingual case manager who helps provide families with food, clothing, parent education, tutoring information, housing information, and counseling, often through referrals to other agencies. The school district contracts with the City of Chino to provide the case managers.

Clothing is also available districtwide from the CARE Closet, operated from a room on the Chino Valley Adult School campus in Chino. Families are invited to visit the Closet by appointment and select items for their children.

Other HOPE Family Resource Centers are located at: Chino Valley Adult School campus, 13970 Third St., Chino; Alternative Education Center, 15650 Pipeline Ave., Chino Hills; Dickson Elementary (room 16), 3930 Pamela Drive, Chino; Walnut Avenue Elementary (room 20), 5550 Walnut Ave., Chino; and Dickey Elementary (room 115), 2850 Parco Ave., Ontario.

Chino Valley Unified School District families may visit any of the resource centers.

The HOPE Resource Center program is currently seeking donations of hygiene items, including 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner, women’s deodorant, razors for men and women, adult toothbrushes, toothpaste and smaller bottles of laundry detergent. Items can be dropped off at any of the HOPE Resource Centers.

For information about the HOPE Resource Centers, and the CARE and KARIN closets, call (909) 628-1201, ext. 8960.

(Aug. 22, 2017)