White County Schools once again gearing up to offer students and families the necessary resources through their resource center this school year.
Beverly Dronebarger is the White County Schools Family Resource Center Director. Dronebarger said the program relies entirely on community donations and partnerships to provide essential supplies and support services to local students and their families Dronebarger said the program is available to every student and family currently enrolled within the district.
“It exists because we want to level the playing field for our students,” Dronebarger said. “For our most in-need students, we want to give them equal access to the resources that they need in order to succeed.”
Dronebarger said the center maintains a clothes closet where families can obtain clothing for students in need. Dronebarger said the program also provides hygiene supplies, food, and assistance for families facing utility shutoffs.
“I think it’s important for families to know these resources are available because we are here to help your student,” Dronebarger said. “We’re invested in student and family success, and when they know that we have these programs to help them and they have access to it, it takes some of the burden off of them and some of the stress of having unmet needs for their family and their student.”
Dronebarger said the center offers grief support for students and works to find specific resources for any situation that could be a barrier to school attendance.
“The program is supported from donations from people in the community,” Dronebarger said. “We have a lot of partners from the faith-based community. We get donations from area businesses like banks, utility companies help out. Their employees and their customers bring things in. I get funding from various other programs like foundations. It really just- it’s funded fully through community support.”
Dronebarger said the center receives support from various foundations and local businesses whose employees and customers contribute items. Dronebarger said the long-term vision for the center involves providing enough education and resources to help families achieve sustained stability.
“I hope that families will become more aware and that as we build relationships with those families through helping out with these different types of programs that we are able to help families create more long-term stability so that maybe it eliminates some of the need for these types of resources,” Dronebarger said.
Dronebarger said the next steps for the program involve maintaining community partnerships to ensure assistance remains available as long as families are in need.
