What’s Right With Our Schools: Bleckley County Elementary mentors students through the ‘Poverty Care Kids’ program

COCHRAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – A program at Bleckley County Elementary school  is mentoring students and giving them a different outlook at life.

Teachers and staff implemented the ‘poverty care kids’ program so students can get the love and attention they deserve.

“We have very few jobs in industry in Bleckley County and we do not want our children to ever want for anything. We want to provide for them on a daily basis,” says Principal Janet Deloach.

Each staff member selected a student of their choice to monitor their behavior, academics, and well being.

“We each have a child that we spend an extra time with whether it be doing homework or just making sure they have what they need, someone to talk to. And then most Saturdays, I go to Macon to the children’s home where one of our children has moved and spend time with him, make sure he has what he needs,” Paraprofessional Lisa Miller explains.

Miller adds spending time with this child has created a bond that she doesn’t want to lose.

“When he left, is when I realized how attached I was because I spent so much time with him and he’s just a really really great kid and he has so much potential I don’t want him to forget how much potential he has. The light that is inside of him, he’s going to be somebody important one day,” Miller continues.

Students can come to the teachers at any time and let them know if there’s something they need to talk about, whether it’s with homework or help in their personal lives.

Principal Janet Deloach says, “Every need is met.You know, from head to toe, whatever that child needs to be successful, whether it’s food, or whether its a pencil, whether it’s a coat, whether it is just a talk, whether it is to cry with, we just have to make sure that whole child is taken care of.”

On Fridays, teachers pack snack bags with food so the students can have food to eat at home. A closet stores all of the food that is sent home with students over the weekend. Principal Janet Deloach says her motto is you have to love them, feed them, and then they can learn.

“They can’t learn when they’re hungry, they can’t learn when they’re unloved, they can not learn when they are distracted by outside factors. And so we have to take all of those pieces of the puzzle and we have to make sure each piece is in place every single day,” Deloach adds.

Secretary, Valerie Nobles says, “They really make a difference in our life, when we’re suppose to be making a difference in theirs but they’re really making a difference in ours.”

Teachers feel this program can help change these childrens’ lives and show them how much they care for them. Bleckley County Elementary is a Title One school, which means they get federal funding to students give students free meals.