ABCs of Need: Care to Learn

If you’re homeless and your shoes don’t fit, how do you get to school? If your glasses are missing an arm, how do you see the chalkboard? If your jeans are worn thin, how do you stop your classmates from laughing? According to the 2016 State of the State: Poverty in Missouri report, 49.4 percent of all students enrolled in Missouri public schools qualify for free or reduced lunch (a recognized indicator of poverty). To be considered poor, a family of four must make less than $31,500 per year, which often can mean children’s basic needs go unmet. School, then, can be a refuge, but if a child faces embarrassment because of the things they lack, it also can create stress factors that impede learning. With 26 chapters in public schools across Missouri, however, Care to Learn alleviates some of that pain by addressing immediately any emergent health, hunger, or hygiene need necessary for a student’s success. That could mean a voucher for a coat or a new pair of glasses. It could mean a toothbrush or a stick of deodorant.

But these are delicate issues; there can be shame involved in being poor. Consequently, the program works with school liaisons (nurses, teachers, counselors and bus drivers) in discreet and sensitive ways to ensure that children are provided for. “We try very hard to prevent embarrassment and help maintain self-esteem,” executive director Linda Ramey-Greiwe says. “A child who is suffering can’t focus on school.”

Care to Learn was founded by businessman Doug Pitt (brother of actor Brad) in 2008 after he heard shocking statistics about poverty rates in his hometown of Springfield, Missouri, where Ramey-Greiwe says 3.2 percent of public school students are currently homeless. It is one of the state’s fastest growing charities. “We are actively seeking additional chapters,” she says, adding that since its beginnings, the organization has funded more than 600,000 individual needs—from a toothbrush to a one-month supply of feminine-hygiene products, to a backpack of food for every weekend of the 40-week school year. Recently, the organization paid for a homeless student’s gas. “She was living in her car and couldn’t get to school,” Ramey-Greiwe explains. Care to Learn also works with other organizations to get students enrolled in SNAP and other aid programs.

Care to Learn has St. Louis chapters in St. Charles, Hazelwood and Warrenton, and is actively seeking to launch additional chapters in the near future. “There is very high poverty in the city of St. Louis,” Ramey-Greiwe says, adding that the organization recently has appointed a director for the chapter planned to serve the greater St. Louis area. In the city itself, well over 50 percent of students currently are eligible for the National School Lunch Program.

On Aug. 6, Care to Learn hosts Stirrups for Students, a charity polo match, at Kraftig Polo Club in Defiance. “It will be a wonderful, family-friendly day in beautiful surroundings,” says board member Laura Chauvin. Money raised by Stirrups for Students will benefit St. Louis area chapters directly. “It will stop children from falling through the cracks,” Chauvin adds.

Care to Learn will host Stirrups for Students, a charity polo match, Aug. 6 at Kraftig Polo Club, 4020 Benne Road, Defiance, Missouri. Pictured on the cover: Event hosts Billy and Christie Busch, honorary chair Jackie Joyner-Kersee, chairman Donn Sorensen and founder Doug Pitt. For more information and tickets, call 314. 914.2674 or visit caretolearnpolo.eventbrite.com.

Pictured: Donn Sorensen, Billy Busch, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Doug Pitt
Photo: Colin Miller of Strauss Peyton Photography