BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In February our concerns about the drastic increase in the numbers of families seeking free food
boxes prompted me to ask Melissa Hodges to meet with Katie and myself. I wanted to discuss with
Melissa what her thoughts were on the possibility of expanding the relationship between UsMoms
and the homeschooling families to include helping UsMoms to raise the money to cover the costs of
the free food boxes and the free self-reliance training.
I thought of asking Melissa about this subject because of our 3 years of good experiences with
exposing our families to the volunteers from the homeschooling community. I had always deeply
appreciated the fact that the parents of the homeschooling families were respectful and
compassionate towards the UsMoms families. Then when I saw the same level of respect and
compassion from the children and teens who volunteered at our Christmas party, I was even more
convinced that our families would be treated well if we expanded the relationship.
As far as we are concerned, we believe the homeschooling families have offered the consistent type
of support that has enabled UsMoms to meet the needs of our families in such a way that the families
have been able to sustain their dignity while receiving the help they deserve. The constant donations
from the network of homeschooling families has ensured we had a good supply of clothing, beds and
bedding, toys and educational books. It enabled UsMoms to design a program that allows each
family to safely and discreetly ask for whatever they need to achieve a level of comfort that lessens
their involvement in a lifestyle of desperation.
The donation of gifts and the Christmas party has also proven to increase these families’ capacity to
accept the help they need. I see it as having enabled the UsMoms’ families to feel like they are a part
of our community, instead of feeling segregated from the community because they are impoverished.
Both of these vital services have encouraged the families to work with UsMoms towards achieving
their permanent self-reliance. We are very grateful that the relationship with the homeschooling
community has brought such incredible, and measurable, results in the lives of so many families.
Melissa listened and discussed with us the various ideas we had for fundraising with the
homeschooling families. She did an excellent job at presenting what the homeschooling families
hoped for out of a relationship with UsMoms. Melissa has carefully explained that many of the
homeschooling parents would like to see their children have the opportunity to be involved in a
hands-on capacity so that the children gain a meaningful life experience from the participation.
I was very moved when Melissa shared with us that for herself and many other homeschooling
parents, there is a great concern about whether their children truly know how privileged they are to
have parents who have made the decision to make their children’s needs such a high priority in their
parents’ lifestyle choices. I believe all good parents are concerned about whether their children
know how good their life really is.
But, for homeschooling parents, I realise they have chosen a unique set of sacrifices and obligations
in their determination to be good parents.
After carefully listening to Melissa, I understood also that the very nature of homeschooling reduces
the homeschooled children’s exposure to underprivileged children, or to children who have parents
that rarely have their best interests in mind. While this is good as far as their children’s daily safety
and exposure to potential bad influences, it also means that homeschooled children may not be
aware of the type of privilege they enjoy because of the lack of exposure to these negative
situations.
Melissa explained that many homeschooling parents are looking for opportunities for their children
to volunteer that would teach these truths in a healthy way. This sent me back to the drawing board
to rethink my ideas for collaborating with homeschooling parents and their children. My goal was to
design a program to teach the children and teens about privilege in a sensitive manner, yet have the
program be engaging as well.
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