The nonprofit organization Heading Home has started a crowdfunding campaign, entitled “Scholar Dollars," to help children who were recently homeless live normal lives.
“Kids are young and need to be able to get out there,” said project director Megan McCormick, herself a single mother of three children.
McCormick has been involved in non-profit organizations for 16 years, she said.
Heading Home has many programs. Families who need assistance from the crowdfunding campaign can contact them through two of these programs - Albuquerque Heading Home and Keeping Families Together.
Through the use of these programs, Heading Home helps families that have experienced homelessness in the past and are trying to come out of it, she said.
“We’re trying to keep families together, help them get back onto their feet and give stability to their lives,” McCormick said.
Many of the homeless families that have been helped through Heading Home have difficulties getting their children to experience a normal childhood, like participating in extracurricular activities or getting access to the supplies that are required for school, she said.
As a mother, McCormick said she’s seen how expensive extracurricular activities can get for children, commenting that for a school extracurricular activity for her own children cost her $200 per child.
“It’s incredible how much it costs. It’s not free; kids need food for lunches and backpacks for school,” she said.
The need for the children of these families to live a normal life and experience normal extra-curricular activities like other children is largely what inspired the idea for the crowdfunding campaign, McCormick said.
The program is hoping to help low-income families with funds for the necessities for school and extra-curricular activities, McCormick said, and there are difficulties that come with crowdfunding campaigns.
“It can go either way with non-profiting, especially with large non- profiting organizations,” she said.
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The idea to use crowdfunding came largely from the interns working for Albuquerque's Heading Home, McCormick said, and they really worked hard to set up the crowdfunding campaign.
“It all came together like magic," she said. "I have to thank all the interns."
Even interns who no longer work with the nonprofit organizations continue to contribute to the campaign by sharing it with their friends on social media, McCormick said.
“They’re really excited (about) sharing on sites and tweeting on Twitter,” she said.
Heading Home works to get homeless families off the streets and keep them together. Permanent housing is always the goal and everything they do is in collaboration with the community.
“Since 2011 we’ve helped, with all of our programs combined, 1500 people,” she said. According to a UNM study, this means savings of millions of dollars for the city.
McCormick describes the programs as “smart ways to do the right things,” and the programs that Heading Home uses takes a person wherever they are and puts them in a stable environment, she said, with their programs having a 90 percent success rate.
The crowdfunding campaign will be able to help struggling families in the Albuquerque's Heading Home and Keeping Families Together programs give their children the healthy experiences that every child needs, McCormick said.
“The crowdfunding is one small piece of the big picture, when you try to create systems small things get lost,” she said.
This crowdfunding campaign is one way to recover some of these small things by helping children lead normal lives, she said.
“It’s a small piece but it’s important,” McCormick said.
McCormick encourages students to visit the campaign web page and welcomes anyone interested in the non-profit organization to seek further information.
“Whether it’s to become an intern or receive a tour, we always welcome kids from UNM in any capacity," she said.
