Staff members at Ramona Elementary School are dedicated to supporting not only the students they serve, but their families as well. In an effort to build relationships with families and provide a need to families that may be struggling, Principal Stacy Sorenson and Counselor Richard Patterson created The Nesting Place.
The Nesting Place is a room that will host the Ramona Clothing Exchange. Parents can bring in clothes they have and exchange them for different clothes for their family. Ramona staff hosted the first clothing exchange event at the beginning of September and received a lot of positive feedback from parents. Staff is now working on hosting this event every month.
Staff also felt that this would be a great opportunity for students on campus to be involved. A handful of students were chosen to help sort all of the donations they had received by sizes. The organization made it easier for people to know where to go to get what they needed. One student said, “It felt encouraging to help others even though we’re young, it feels good to know that we can make a difference in our community.”
The clothes exchange stemmed from the idea of building a relationship of trust between parents and the staff. Counselor Patterson said many times parents are on campus, because of a parent-teacher conference or other things of that nature, but he wanted to create an event where staff can show that the school can be also be a resource for them. He also hopes this event will open doors to discussions about other needs families on campus have. Ultimately, staff wants to provide as many resources to its families to ensure students are in the best position to learn and gain a quality education.
Thank you to the Ramona staff for creating an event that continues to build relationships with students and their families, while providing a service that can enhance the quality of life for our students.