Running on faith - #lakewoodnews

Emory Elementary is more than just a school.

Located at 1275 S. Teller St., Emory has become an important hub for a neighborhood community that has many at-risk families and students living in transition, which means they don't have a permanent address.

But with the help of the Lakewood Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as the rest of the Lakewood Faith Coalition, Emory became a place where help isn't limited to students.

"We want our children to be successful with their grades, with their social life, with their families," wrote Andrea Syko, Bilingual Family Engagement Liaison with Emory. "Our children need to know that they have people who support them, that we have partners in the community that want to see them achieve their goals and achieve their dreams."

Emory is a Title 1 school, with a high-mobility student population. As of 2015, 91.2 percent of students qualified for free and reduced lunches.

Many students were arriving to school late, lacked attention during class, or simply didn't come to school at all, Syko explained.

In 2015 Emory was invited to a meeting at the Lakewood Cultural Center with the Lakewood Faith Coalition, a group of religious organizations in the city dedicated to helping those in need.

"At the end of the meeting I talked about the needs of my school, and President Jim Jackson from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offered his support to our students," Syko wrote. "For many of our families, the weekends are a difficult time because they don't have the free and reduced breakfast and lunch for their children that the school provides during the week."

As he listened to the challenges facing Emory, Jackson said he was moved to help in any way he could, and rallied his church to the cause.

"It's a matter of just asking for help," he said.

Syko began working with Jennifer Anderson, the church's relief society president, on addressing some of the school's needs.

"Andrea was able to give me a list of some of Emory's top needs, which at the time was winter clothes for the students," Anderson said. "There was also a need for food, so we decided to help set up and stock a food pantry."

In the year since the relationship between Emory and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started, the church has also helped provide academic support like tutoring and mentorship. Church members come to Emory's homework club every Thursday to provide their services.

The school's food pantry was recently restocked by the church, which allows about 50 families in transition to get food once a week, so children can eat over the weekend.

The collaboration has ushered in an uptick in attendance, with the school now meeting its attendance goal of 95 percent. At the same time last year, attendance was at 94.7 percent.

"This is why partnerships like this are important to our school, because it really takes all of us working together to educate and support our students," Syko wrote. "When the community gets involved, the students are not alone, the families are not alone, and everyone wants to see the children succeed."

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/Running-on-faith,240179