Children return to school with dignity through Uniforms for Kids

Valerie Armstrong said her granddaughter Renee, 8, is “her world’ as she selected two uniforms for Renee at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on Plank Road in Baton Rouge.
Renee, whom Valerie has raised since birth, already started the new school year at Dalton Elementary School in Baton Rouge on July 19. Valerie smiled as she talked about the conversation they would likely have that night when she presented Renee’s uniforms to her.
“I’ll say, ‘Look, uniforms,’ and she’ll say, ‘Ooh, la, la, Maw, Maw,’ ” said Valerie
Through the SVDP Uniforms for Kids Program, families in need can positively approach the challenges of the new school year.
Particularly with summertime temperatures and utility bills soaring this summer, parents struggle to provide necessities and can’t afford uniforms. Children face academic and social pressures which impact their success at school. SVDP seeks to lift those burdens.
“Children are a gift from God,” said Michael Acaldo, SVDP Executive Director, “But anything that makes you stand out, sometimes it’s not such a good thing. If a child shows up in a uniform that’s torn, two sizes too small or the wrong uniform together, they are embarrassed to start off with. And if anyone ridicules them, then they’ve got to deal with that as well.
“That’s why we are working to save the dignity of each child.”
The Lord had given SVDP the mission to keep people uplifted and empowered to be all they can be, according to Acaldo.
“And that’s what Uniforms for Kids is all about,” Acaldo said.
SVDP provides uniforms for families in need throughout the school year.
When a family comes to the SVDP homeless shelter, they’ve been evicted from their home. Sometimes a single mom is evicted from her apartment while she is at work and all the family’s belongings are removed from the apartment and put on the side of the road.
“People come to us, and they don’t have anything except what is on their backs,” said Acaldo.
When parents become homeless, their children become homeless. Often, it’s a mother with children and the children don’t have school uniforms, Acaldo noted.
“We provide that. And throughout the course of the year, the children can get what they need and (by working with the East Baton Rouge School Board and local schools to provide transportation) they can go to school with their heads held high.”
Acaldo and the SVDP staff see some children wearing school uniforms when they come to the dining room to eat during a weekend or holiday, or to receive gifts from the bishop during the Christmas gift distribution.
“That’s poverty, because they convey, ‘that’s my best clothes,’  … ‘that’s all I’ve got,’ said Acaldo.
Karteresa Freeman, who came to get uniforms for her children Ro’Darius, 13, Eddie, 7, and six-year-old twins, Maryaina and Oraina, struggles to overcome poverty.
“We’re gonna make it. (God) always makes a way. He always does,” said Freeman.
And Uniforms for Kids is part of that by providing fresh uniforms for her children. Ro’Darius will attend Glen Oaks Middle School in Baton Rouge and his siblings will attend Glen Oaks Park Elementary School.
“It takes off a lot of the stress … it means a lot to me,” said Freeman.
Patricia Pierre, a working single mom, has received uniforms for the past six years for her children Ja’Quan, 12 and Crystal, 10. Ja’Quan will attend McKinley Middle School in Baton Rouge and Crystal will attend McKinley Elementary School, also in Baton Rouge.
Having to buy shoes, underwear and socks, school supplies and other things on an already tight budget leaves Pierre with no money to buy uniforms. Uniforms for Kids lightens the burden for her.
“I think (the children) feel so great. It will help them feel more confident going to school with something new as well as the other kids, because it’s hard to provide when you’re doing everything you can just to get by,” said Pierre.
Charmaine Jones is visually impaired and therefore unable to work. Her fiancé, Tyrone Tate, assists her by driving her and her 12-year-old twins, Antonio and Augustine, to places they need to go, etc.
Jones said any assistance she receives is swallowed up in day-to-to expenses. The uniforms will help the kids when they return to Copper Mill Elementary School in Zachary.
For Augustine, instead of dreading the start of school, her eyes sparkle as she anticipates joining her numerous friends again.
Acaldo said SVDP is grateful for the support Uniforms for Kids has received from the bishops of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, including Bishop Michael G. Duca, Bishop Emeritus Robert W. Muench and former Bishop Alfred C. Hughes.
As with all the SVDP programs, more than 90 percent of the support comes from individual financial donations, said Acaldo. Financial donations can be made by visiting svdpbr.org/uniforms-for-kids or by mailing a check to Society of St. Vincent de Paul, P.O. Box 127, Baton Rouge, LA, 70821-0127.