“It’s a great partnership, I think, between schools and churches to help fill some of the gaps, so we hope to do more of that.”
Jennifer Withrow
Co-director of missions at Faith Community
WEST CHESTER TWP. — Pastor Edinson DeArco spends a good part of his day in his van.
Each morning, DeArco picks up a load of students at Lakota Lake Apartments on Cincinnati Dayton Road and drops them off at Lakota East High School. He then heads back for more passengers for a second trip. He returns to pick them up in the afternoon.
DeArco, originally from Columbia, launched his mobile ministry in response to concerns he heard about high school transportation cuts.
“This is a problem right now,” he said. “I decided I would help with the situation. I tell the different families, ‘so don’t worry, I drive the children to school.’”
During their short trips, they have conversations about classes, frustrations in their personal lives or whatever is on their minds. The goal, he said, is to encourage them, and pray for them.
Parents have called him from other apartment complexes asking if he could help their children. DeArco, the Hispanic Outreach pastor at Faith Community United Methodist Church in West Chester Twp., said he can’t drive them all.
When the church staff became aware of the families that could not get their children to school, Jennifer Withrow, co-director of missions at Faith Community, said people wanted to help.
Withrow signed on to help DeArco in the afternoons, and more church members have volunteered.
People are so grateful, she said, and some of the parents have been helping pay for gas.
“I think that does show a responsibility on the parents’ part,” she said. “It’s not like they are asking for a free handout here. They just need help getting their kids to school.”
Withrow said her concern is that this situation is affecting low-income families in pockets across the Lakota Local School District.
“It puts (parents) in a very difficult position to make a choice between their job or getting their kids to school,” she said.
Principal Dick Hamilton said students at Lakota West have a place to post if they need a ride, or if they can offer rides. Also, he said, the social worker has been addressing issues if a student is unable to get to school.
Lakota East High Principal Keith Kline said he isn’t aware of a larger truancy rate since the bus cuts, but an analysis will be done in the coming weeks to determine the impact.
Administrators said they are grateful for partnerships.
Withrow said it is a partnership the church wants to expand in that community where they already have a summertime lunch program and an English as a second language class.
“We really have tried to adopt them,” she said. “It’s a great partnership, I think, between schools and churches to help fill some of the gaps, so we hope to do more of that.”
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