Grant Stories

Sometimes you find a friend where you least expect to. For the past 10 years, general education and special education students have been making friends with one another through the 12th Street Elementary/WoodsEdge Buddy Program.

In this program, fifth-graders from 12th Street Elementary School in Portage travel to WoodsEdge Learning Center to work and play with students with severe disabilities who are in Dave Melotti's classroom. At WoodsEdge –– a county-wide special education school –– a few of the activities they are involved with include physical education, help in the reading corner, games, scavenger hunts, art projects, learning American Sign Language, and making music together. Teachers, administrators and support staff at both schools plan and manage the program.

Bill Klinesteker, a fifth-grade teacher at 12th Street Elementary is the program director. "In our society, there is little contact between general education students and students with severe disabilities," he explains. "This results in a lack of understanding and tolerance for differences. This program addresses that need."

Eighty-two students from 12th Street Elementary are participating in the Buddy Program this year. Usually, 15 students go to WoodsEdge in a single trip; each student has the chance to go three times during the academic year. A grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation is helping with the Buddy Program's transportation costs.

On each trip, 12th Street students buddy up with a different WoodsEdge student, so all of the students from both schools have an opportunity to make more than one friend.

"Over the last 10 years we've seen many lives changed," Klinesteker says. "Once the 12th Street Elementary students get past the obvious differences they see and hear with the WoodsEdge students, they are no longer afraid and any misunderstandings just disappear. They see their WoodsEdge buddies as just other kids."

According to Dave Melotti, the Buddy Program gives WoodsEdge students access to positive interactions with other students they might not have in their daily lives. "Our WoodsEdge students benefit from being exposed to other children," he notes. "They learn appropriate social skills and how to work in an environment that is different from their normal routine."

Klinesteker notes the adults involved really don't have to do much. "With these kids," he says, "there's no teaching involved. You give them some basic instructions, you let them go and play, and then listen to them afterward. All we do is bring them together and they do the rest. They create their own opportunities for learning and making friends."

Last fall some unusual teams gathered on Western Michigan University's campus to build bicycles –– and then give them away. It was the trial run of a service learning project called Building Bikes, Building Community.

According to Shawn Tenney, Western's University Coordinator of Service Learning, eight WMU faculty/staff participated, along with 16 Lakeside Academy students and eight elementary students from the Edison Environmental Science Academy. Each adult teamed up with two teens from Lakeside and each team built a bicycle. Then the Lakeside students presented the completed bicycles, along with new helmets, to the elementary students.

"This project serves many purposes," says Tenney. "For faculty, it helps to build their skills in incorporating service learning into their curricula, giving them first-hand knowledge of what it is like for their students when they are placed in the community to serve in various capacities.

"For the Lakeside students, they have a chance to practice leadership and teamwork skills, and build trust and empathy. Many Lakeside students said they have never created something and then given it away, and several said they'd never had someone look up to them before.

"For the elementary students, a bike was a luxury they may not have enjoyed, but this wasn't 'charity.' They were selected by their teachers because they made a difference in their schools. The bikes were a reward recognizing their contributions to their community."

Says Tenney, "Everyone enjoyed participating. Depending on funding, we would like to do this twice a year, but at least annually."

The helmets for Building Bikes, Building Community were donated by Safe Kids Kalamazoo County. Meijer donated funds toward purchasing the bikes. A Kalamazoo Community Foundation grant was used to purchase bikes and the tools needed to put them together.

Blend a summer day –– in this case Saturday, Aug. 6, 2011 –– with nearly 4,000 people and 71 community agencies at Spring Valley park. Stir in great entertainment and food with opportunities to make connections, and you have the 2011 Ultimate Family Reunion sponsored by the Kalamazoo organization Mothers of Hope.

According to its board chair Gwen Lanier, Mothers of Hope was founded to empower women recovering from substance abuse, restore families and enhance their lives. Mothers of Hope is best known for its grassroots activities and the positive connections it has established throughout the community.

Mothers of Hope holds it Ultimate Family Reunion on the first Saturday in August. Now in its fifth year, the annual event offers free food, live entertainment and a lot of information about the services and resources provided by area agencies and organizations. It is an opportunity for community agencies to collaborate, reach out and inform people –– all in a fun, family reunion type of atmosphere.

This year's theme was education and health. "Our primary goal each year is to provide an event where the public can connect with resources in the community that will enhance their lives and help build strong community ties," says Lanier. "This year we emphasized health and literacy/education."

She continues, "At Mothers of Hope we want to get children 'Promise ready,' Many minority students are signing up for The Kalamazoo Promise, but they don't stay on board because they haven't been correctly prepared for the experience. This year's Ultimate Family Reunion was just one way to expose children and their families to resources that will help them become fully Promise-ready."A grant from the Kalamazoo Community Foundation was used to purchase food and supplies for the 2011 Ultimate Family Reunion. You can see more photos of the event on our Facebook page.