Recently, an adorable homeless 6-year-old arrived in town with her mother and little brother.
They were supported for seven weeks by a group of residents of Concord and neighboring towns and members of First Parish Concord and First Parish Bedford who opened their homes in rotation because no children should be sleeping in subway stations.
When it came time for this child to register for school, our public school administrators and teachers could not have been more welcoming, nor more efficient. The challenge of integrating a non-English speaking child into a classroom several days after the start of school must be enormous, yet this child was greeted with open hearts and with offers to quickly ensure that she had supplies, a name on her cubby, and food orders for lunch.
The girl had never had a single day of school in her life, and did not speak English. She was treated so kindly on her first day that she was thrilled and eager to go back. The local residents who have been assisting the family were extremely impressed and are enormously grateful.
This particular child and her family were recently offered a shelter space in another town. We will miss them.
Other families continue to sleep in subway stations. If you are interested in helping to provide temporary shelter or other support for these children and parents, please contact the Brazilian Worker Center at braziliancenter.org or the Immigration Justice Task Force of First Parish in Concord by emailing reginacorraoconsulting@gmail.com.
Rachel Wheeler
Fairhaven Road