This school is stepping up for Cincinnati’s poorest kids
July 9, 2018
In Millvale, ‘everyone’s kids’ showered with gifts
April 15, 2020Did you miss the original story about the children of Millvale? No worries. Check out the links below to get caught up.
Late last summer, a great assignment fell on our desks – the Cincinnati Reds, Procter & Gamble and Cincinnati Zoo were re-doing the Millvale Recreation Center.
An outdoor assignment in August? Yes, please.
When we got there – sometimes reporters and photographers are lucky enough to go to an assignment at the same time – we saw more than a makeover worthy of HGTV, we saw a community in need.
Recreation Center staff members were packing bags of food for the center's children to take home over the weekend because they didn't have enough at home.
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We aren't new to town. We know that Cincinnati has a high child poverty rate. Now the faces of that statistic were looking up at us. And they said they were hungry.
So we stayed, spending the year at Ethel M. Taylor Academy, the heart of the community.
On the first day of school – and his first day as a principal – Ceair Baggett welcomed us.
"Come on in, let me show you around," he said.
We met 8-year-old Arthur Murray and his family. We would find out later that Arthur slept on a dirty mattress. That he didn't have clean clothes.
We met Jalisha Allen, 10, and cousin Rayshawn Allen, 5. Jalisha, we discovered, lived in a loving home, but slept on the floor because she didn't have a bed of her own.
Millvale is only five miles from Downtown.
We made a vow that this was a story that had to be told all the way through. Our editors agreed. So after we were there on the first day of school, we went back to see them get supplies, to get backpacks and Christmas presents.
Together, we have done thousands of stories about this city's triumphs and its problems, but this was different somehow. It is not enough sometimes to write down what you see or take pictures of what's in front of you. We wanted to expose how these children live in our own community.
Because we have children. Because we love this town and want it to be better.
We were eyewitnesses to the many obstacles that life has thrown in these children's paths. We became almost duty-bound to let you know about these children because they touched our hearts. So much so that, some days, it was tough to walk away and go back to our own lives.
Since the story ran, Hamilton County Job and Family Services has removed Arthur, Cody and Kathy Murray from their parents' home and placed them in foster care. Jalisa and Rayshawn got a brand new bunk bed.
The four children we wrote about are all now sleeping in clean, comfortable beds. And while this should have been true before we got there, it will be true for many days to come. And, now, we sleep a little better, too.
So you know, The Enquirer will continue telling such stories, in Millvale and elsewhere. Reporters plan to dig deeper into the forces that shape the lives of the children in and around our city so that someday they have not simply food, clothing and beds – but hope.
The outpouring of help for the children of Millvale has been incredible and we can't say thank you enough.
• A reader went to Ashley Furniture HomeStore and bought a bunk bed to donate for Jalisa and Rayshawn. Morris Furniture Company, Ashley's parent company, donated the mattresses.
• Three other kids got beds this week, also thanks to readers. Others will get them, too. Teachers at Taylor have asked children who didn't have beds to write a note if they needed one. "I need a bed because I am sleeping on the floor and I wake up with a soar (sic) body," a student wrote.
• Readers donated more than $25,000 to Taylor Academy's nonprofit charity, the Soaring Hawks Foundation.
• The Cincinnati Police Department donated two beds and its officers are doing a clothing and toiletry drive for the school.
• A hair stylist offered to cut all the children's hair.
• Readers dropped off bags and bags of snacks to fill the supply closet in Baggett's office, where he keeps food for kids who are hungry.
• Lowe's Home Improvement is donating the material to build shelves at the school so educators can keep the extra supplies there.
• A pizza parlor is throwing the school a pizza party; a bakery brought cupcakes on Thursday.
• The Cincinnati Ballet wants to bring an after-school ballet class to the school.
• A group of seniors citizens offered to "adopt" kids next year and buy them what they need for the school year. Other wanted to "adopt" kids on their birthday.
• One woman is sending T-Shirts that say "Do The Right Thing" – the school's motto – for every child.
• A 9-year-old boy who doesn't live in the neighborhood is collecting items for Taylor Academy in lieu of birthday presents for himself.
• Girl Scout Troop 49632 in Lower Price Hill, themselves the recipient of Enquirer reader kindness when readers helped them sell more than 5,000 boxes of cookies to send them to summer camp, are hosting a donation drive for the school.
Churches, schools and individuals have also told School Resource Officer Molly Luken they are collecting food, money, clothes and books. Many people offered to tutor.
These are things are coming from near and far. People have reached out from the suburbs, and one person is driving down from Columbus with donations.
Luken's once neat conference room table – the place where she talks to kids, the place where she holds student council – is now piled high with underwear and socks and shoes and more.
She's never turned away a child in need.
Thanks to readers, her job just got a whole lot easier.
