New CCS mutual aid page gears up for holidays

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As the holidays approach and colder weather ensues, a new Facebook page affiliated with Chatham County Schools is working to increase the public awareness and meeting of community needs within the school district.

The site, “Chatham County Schools Mutual Aid” on Facebook, is “based on the idea that everyone can help and everyone has something to bring to the table,” the page said. Mutual-aid systems involve people working cooperatively to meet the needs of everyone in their community.

Crystal Carroll, the district’s McKinney-Vento liaison, said the Facebook page is an initiative to create such a network to help meet the needs of CCS students. The McKinney-Vento Program ensures rights to students based on federal law aimed at assisting students who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.

“The Facebook page is our first step in the initiative and will be used to publicize specific needs of our students and families and a beginning platform for the network of community members,” Carroll said. “The idea stems from not only being a place to solicit donations/giving but also to have a contact person (myself) if there is a need and I can help publicize and make people aware of the need for help.”

As of Tuesday morning, the page had 97 followers and 79 likes. Carroll said her goal was to reach 100 members by Dec. 31, so she’s been pleased with the engagement with the page so far.

Even though Thanksgiving aid requests were only posted for 48 hours before the district went on break, Carroll said they were able to donate a turkey to a CCS family in need of one. Since closing those donations, the page received several offers, which are now being added to the page’s holiday service goal — to collect donations to give out gifts, food and decorations.

The page’s first PR initiative will be “5 Days of Mutual Aid,” where page members can post a story in response to daily prompts regarding a person or nonprofit that has helped them to cultivate a sense of community. Carroll said she is hopeful this initiative will gather more followers and engagement with the page.

“I have seen quite a community response already and can’t wait to cultivate more,” she said.

So far, the majority of resources collected have been monetary, Carroll said. Donations can be mailed to the CCS Central Office at 369 West Street in Pittsboro, or, if there is enough notice, delivered directly to a school social worker. Resources are distributed based on needs, with donations to be separated “as evenly as possible” between all the district’s schools.

Prior to creating the Facebook page, Carroll spoke with representatives from several local nonprofits — Chatham Connecting, Chatham Education Foundation and Chatham Connecting Holiday Wishes — whom she said were “extremely helpful” in spreading the word about the page and garnering additional resources.

Carroll, originally from New York City, has not been in Chatham for very long, but she said she’s already been impressed by the desire of community members to help others.

“I never imagined I would get any response for joining the Facebook community, particularly without a recognizable name and being a new member of the community. I had been told about the great ability of Chatham County to give, and I felt that with the immediate response,” she said. “Within a week, we received numerous likes and follows on our page (all from a snowball effect of sharing the page). Upon giving out our first request, there was an immediate response and need was quickly met. Anytime I get the opportunity to speak with a community member, I am met with a pure interest in how to help.”

Reporter Hannah McClellan can be reached at hannah@chathamnr.com.