Tuesday, May 26, 2020
For more than 20 years, The School District of Tomahawk has partnered with the Kinship of Tomahawk-- a local program that provides mentoring opportunities for children and families. Now, more than ever, this partnership has grown into a valuable resource for more than 50 families in the district.
Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, the district provides breakfast and lunch for its 1,200 students. During the first few weeks of 'Safer at Home,' student meals were delivered by buses and school personnel. Now, meals can be picked up at school. However, when a need exists beyond weekday meals for an entire family, the Kinship of Tomahawk makes up the difference.
District Director of Curriculum, Thersea Burzynski and Tomahawk's middle school principal, Wendell Quisenberry both sit on the board of directors for Kinship which further facilitates the partnership.
To protect the privacy of the families, mentors from Kinship of Tomahawk work directly with the families to gauge needs. When Kinship called for help from the community, several local churches and organizations contributed large donations. The donations are used to deliver bags of food to supplement the meals the school provides, along with school supplies or other expressed needs. 22-31 bags of food and supplies are delivered each week.
The Kinship organization also regularly checks in with the 81 children on its list through phone calls.
For more information about the Kinship of Tomahawk, visit the Kinship website.
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