MS. SHARON...
If any of you have ever been down to Love City, you have seen the house we lived in adjacent to the back parking lot. While we lived there, we parked in the lot behind the building, instead of parking on the street in front of our house on Alford Ave. Whenever we would go anywhere, we would come out the driveway next to the building onto 26th street. Across the street from the driveway there lived a woman named Ms. Sharon. She would sit out on her porch and just observe the neighborhood most days. She was probably in her early 70s when we moved to the neighborhood. Every time we would leave to go anywhere, we would see her sitting on her porch, and we would wave hello. Without fail, she would quickly turn her head and look away. This went on for about 6 months until one Saturday Shawn and I were sitting in our dining room having lunch and there was a knock on our back door. We opened the door and there was Ms. Sharon. We had never met in person, but she was distraught and asking for help. We had her come in and sit down and explain to us what was going on.
She had just received her bank statement and her bank account was overdrawn by about $100 and she was in a panic. She didn’t know how that happened because she kept track of all her checks and balanced her check book every week. I looked at her bank statement, and we sat down with my computer at the dining room table to figure out what had happened. Through research and getting online access to her bank account we were able to see that her landlord had not cashed her check when she sent it to him. Instead, he had waited a month, so when she got her bank statement, she thought she had more money than she did. When she had paid her LGE bill she had over drafted her account and now the bank was charging her $30 a day in fees and she was panicked. Since it was a Saturday, and the bank wasn’t open I asked her to come back on Monday and we would call the bank and get everything sorted out. In the meantime, she still needed to go get some groceries for the next few days, so we gave her some money to cover her food.
On Monday she and I met, and we called the bank. I explained what had happened and got the bank to remove all the overdraft fees and then Ms. Sharon and I went through her monthly budget. She only has social security income which didn’t cover all her bills. She had rent, LGE, Louisville Water, burial insurance, and phone and cable TV. All of those together exceeded her monthly income. The cable bill alone was $159, and when your entire monthly income was only $645, that’s a huge chunk. When I asked Ms. Sharon about it, she said the phone company had called her and said she needed to add cable in order to keep her land line phone number. She had had that phone number for over 20 years and didn’t want to lose it. I told her she didn’t have to have cable TV to keep her phone number. I explained to her about a digital TV antenna and how she would still be able to watch all her favorite TV shows that came on the MeTV network. We called the cable company, turned off the cable TV, kept her landline phone number and changed her bill to $29 a month.
Even with the reduction in her cable TV bill, some months when the water bill was due, she still would be short. So, we worked a deal, since she got rid of cable TV, I would get her a digital antenna and help her with her water bill whenever she was short. She was so grateful. As time went on, we would notice Ms. Sharon walking around the block every morning with a Kroger bag, picking up trash in front of the building. Shawn asked her why she was doing that, and she said, “Well, the street needs to look good for the kids.” She would start coming over more regularly, she would come to the fish fry, one time when I was dropping her off in front of her house after we went to the DMV to get her ID updated, I said, as I always did when I said goodbye, “love you Ms. Sharon, I’ll see you later.” She stopped and looked at me and said, “I love you too, you all are my family, I don’t know what I would do without you.” She had never responded when I said I love you, I didn’t know what to say. I drove away wiping away tears.
Ms. Sharon sitting on her front porch across the street from the Mackin.
A few months later Ms. Sharon came over again in a panic. Her landlord who she had rented from for the last 15 years was selling the house. She was worried that she would have to move, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She was comfortable, settled and all she wanted to do was spend the rest of her days living here in that house. Shawn got her landlord’s number and called him to see what the asking price was. He then called a couple of businessmen who had donated to Love City in the past, to see if they might be interested in purchasing the house as an investment to let Ms. Sharon continue to live there. We made arrangements to meet the businessmen at the house to take a tour. As we walked through the property, all the businessmen saw was a small rundown shotgun house. “Well, what do you think?” Shawn asked when we met at the Mackin building to discuss. They laughed at us and said, “there is no hope for that house, it should be torn down, that is most certainly not a good investment.” Shawn escorted them out of the building and thanked them for their time. They couldn’t see the beauty in Ms. Sharon. It wasn’t about an investment to make money; it was about helping an elderly lady live out her days where she wants. Shawn and I looked at the budget and were able to raise the funds for Love City to purchase Ms. Sharon’s house. We let her know that we bought the house, and she was so grateful. We also lowered her rent so that she could have a larger share of her income to buy other things she needs.
Earlier this year we started having our community dinners at Porkland on Tuesday nights. Ms. Sharon is a regular fixture, doesn’t miss a Tuesday, and is always ready with a joke (most of which she makes up herself). Occasionally Ms. Sharon will allow people who are down on their luck to stay with her while they figure things out. Her motives are partly to help people but also partly to combat her own loneliness of living by herself. A few months ago, she had allowed a young woman who was struggling with finding permanent housing to store some of her belongings at her house. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for some of Ms. Sharon’s things to start going missing. The first thing to go missing was Ms. Sharon’s SNAP card. She thought she had lost it somewhere, so she came over to the building and we got online and ordered her another one. Then she couldn’t find her ID. We finally figured out what was happening when Ms. Sharon brought over her check book. She meticulously balances her check book every month, and there were four random number checks that were missing out of her check book. We got online to see if we could see what happened to those checks. Luckily her bank posts online pictures of any checks that she writes once they are cashed. Sure enough, two of the checks were written out to the name of the woman that she had allowed to store stuff in her house, and the signature was clearly not Ms. Sharon’s. They had both been cashed at the bank, each for $200. Thankfully Ms. Sharon still had some money left over from the COVID stimulus checks, so it hadn’t over drafted yet, but there were still two checks that were missing out of her check book that hadn’t been cashed yet. I immediately called the police to report the fraud, then we called the bank to report the fraud and put a stop payment on the missing check numbers. We were able to give the bank the police report number, so they were able to reimburse Ms. Sharon for the money that was stolen with the forged checks. Ironically, all this woman’s stuff was still in Ms. Sharon’s house. Shawn and Ethan went over that afternoon and we moved all her stuff out of the house onto the sidewalk. Ms. Sharon had a phone number for the woman, so Shawn called and let her know that her stuff was outside waiting for her to come pick it up. Later that afternoon her boyfriend came by, loaded up her stuff and drove off. The police continued their investigation, we gave them all the information we had including her phone number to help with the investigation. The woman already had outstanding warrants for other items, and this charge was just added to them. Because the dollar amount of the theft was under $500 the warrant was just filed with the others, in case the police came across the woman for something else.
Ms. Sharon at Tuesday night community dinner.
Ms. Sharon was pretty shaken up, she talked about the incident for months. Every time she would come to Tuesday evening dinner with the community, she would talk about it with whoever would listen. Even though we were able to get all the money that was stolen back she still felt violated and taken advantage of. Gradually over time she started telling jokes again. She still asks me every once in a while, if I’ve heard from the police detective and have they arrested that lady yet. Ms. Sharon still gets up every morning and walks the block around Mackin and St Cecilia picking up trash. She’s a fixture in the community, we see her stopping and talking to neighbors, checking in on people, making sure everyone is ok. It’s a far cry from when we first met her, when she wouldn’t come off her front porch and was so wary of everyone, she wouldn’t talk to anyone. She now has family and a community that not only is there for her, but people she can be there for as well. We’re happy to have Ms. Sharon as part of our family.
PREPARING FOR SCHOOL...
Digging out the yard to prepare for new windows in the basement
In addition to preparing with new staff, we are also updating the physical space at the school. All of our basement classrooms will have windows this year. When the Mackin was originally built, this side of the building was actually full of windows. In a couple of weeks we will be knocking out the cinder block that was used to block up the old windows and putting in new windows to let some light into the basement. In this picture you can see where the windows will be going, underneath the line of brick where the cinderblocks run down the length of the building. Last week we had a backhoe digging out the dirt that had over the years built up beside the building. We'll be taking pictures and sharing as the process of new windows continues over the next couple of weeks!
MIGHTY OAK IS HIRING!
We have made progress on our hiring goals for this coming school year. We filled a couple of key roles this week and are excited to have them start next week.
Our biggest need still is we need teachers for our Elementary classrooms. Here are the list of positions we are looking to fill:
Elementary School Teachers
Receptionist
Athletic Director
Digital Media Instructor/Specialist
Below is a summary of the teacher job posting. You can find a full description of the teacher job, as well as links to all of the additional jobs we have open on indeed and our website. If you or anyone you know might be interested in joining the MOA team this year, please forward them the job posting. You can find the job postings on Indeed by searching Mighty Oak Academy.
TEACHER JOB POSTING AT MIGHTY OAK ACADEMY
The Teachers report to the Instructional Coach and are responsible for leading their own instruction as well as collaborating on a teaching team to facilitate learning across multiple elementary classrooms. Teachers are tone setters for the school and responsible for high quality instruction, culture building within and across classrooms. Teachers will also need to be able to deeply integrate academics, socio emotional learning and health in our classrooms daily. Mighty Oak Academy is a new school, and as we learn and grow, we respond and adapt to the needs of our students and staff. This year we will have teachers working on teams across 2-3 grade levels to address different subjects, integrate project-based learning and adjust classes to skill level rather than grade level.
Some highlights from the job responsibilities:
Annual, weekly, and daily instructional planning tailored to the needs of each child
Instructional delivery in large group, small group, and individualized formats
Collaboration with other teachers to practice skills and jointly problem solve
Partner with instructional support team, behavioral support team and other related service providers to provide personalized supports for students with identified needs
Create a safe and enjoyable educational environment that encompasses project-based learning.
Use the school’s social emotional learning techniques for encouraging the social emotional development of children that builds a healthy, safe, loving school environment.
Manage classrooms effectively so that children feel loved, safe and want to learn.
Some highlights from the job qualifications:
You have a bachelor’s degree
You have a minimum of 3 years of experience as a classroom teacher and hold deep and diverse instructional competence
Your work demonstrates a practice of creating transformative classroom culture for all kids. You take proactive steps to build an equitable classroom practice
You have a parent- and family-centered mindset
You recognize the multidimensional needs of children and families, because in your own way, you’ve been trying to weave education, health, and family support services together for your students
For the full job posting and to see all our other open positions please click on the following link:
Job Postings at Mighty Oak Academy
If you are interested in volunteering or to find out more information about supplies needed please email: info@lovecityinc.org or call (502) 272-078.
Please consider partnering financially with Love City. We are looking for sponsors for students at Mighty Oak Academy as well as partners to help fund construction of our new preschool. Click the button below to donate today.