Meridian School District has officially opened the Family Support Center — a space where families can go to find help for a wide range of concerns, whether they be food insecurity, lack of access to medical assistance or housing needs.
After many years floating between open offices in different schools, Family Services is now permanently operating out of a portable in front of Irene Reither Elementary School. Federal Way School District donated eight portables to the district last summer.
When visitors walk into the new center, they’re greeted with a comfy couch and a map, marking the home cities and countries of some of the district’s families. Board games fill one shelf and toy trains another. Beyond the entrance, family services coordinator Alicia Roberts and cultural liaison Elvira Rozen sit in their offices, ready to help families with whatever issues they may face.
“Our intention was to make it look like a home,” Rozen said. “Families can feel comfortable and be open to just sit down and talk to us about their needs.”
For immediate needs, the support center has a second portable filled with racks of donated clothes and shelves of hygiene products and food. For larger concerns, Roberts, Rozen and the recently hired behavioral health coordinator Jeannie Dodd help families find external organizations and resources in the community for their specific needs. They essentially serve as a community touchpoint to connect individuals with programs.
“If people aren’t connected with their communities, but they have a school, that seems like the obvious the first place that a family would go looking for services,” Roberts said.
The Family Resource Center also provides translation services for those who are not fluent in or struggle to speak English. Rozen, who speaks Spanish, helps families navigate through the school system by taking them on tours of their student’s schools or by simply helping them fill out paperwork.
Meridian’s Hispanic population has grown from 18% to nearly 21% of students, according to the Washington Office of Public Instruction, so the need to bridge the gap in the community has only increased.
Meridian modeled its Family Resource Center with help from the adjacent facilities in Bellingham Public Schools, Lynden School District and Blaine School District. All these programs became vital resources for many in the community through the COVID-19 pandemic — Bellingham even erected its own testing clinic for students and families.
With many aspects of the pandemic waning and new struggles arriving during recovery, the districts realize that they are, and will continue to be, a vital source of support for many in the community.
“We have a lot more impacts in the lives of our kids and our families than we had two and a half years ago,” superintendent James Everett said. “Those needs are going to continue.”
In the short term, the district is settling the program into its new home and working with families. In the future, they hope to expand and potentially offer adult education classes or build up an early learning program.
The Family Support Center is open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at 954 E Hemmi Rd. in Everson. It currently accepts donations of gently used clothing, hygiene products and non-perishable food.
