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Family Resource Center reports broad county outreach, seeks new facility and onsite services
Summary
April Couch, director of the Family Resource Center, told the board about food, clothing and hygiene distributions, home visits and plans for a new facility with laundry and shower services; the center reported donations from the community and multiple service metrics.
April Couch, director of the Hawkins County Family Resource Center, briefed the Board of Education on the center’s operations and needs and described plans to expand services from a new facility.
Couch said the center provides monthly food distributions in partnership with Second Harvest at Volunteer and Cherokee and every other month at Clinch, and that the distribution system served about 1,533 families last year through drive-through events and direct deliveries. She reported the clothing and shoe pantry served about 225 people and that the center distributed roughly 160 personal hygiene packages during the year. Couch said staff made 165 home visits and that the office used community donations to pay 25 utility bills for families who had exhausted other resources.
Couch noted the center’s state budget is limited and that community donations—she cited $14,466 in donations last year—have been essential to operations. She described equipment already purchased for the planned new facility (washer and dryers, a refrigerator and freezer) and said the goal is to offer free laundry and possibly shower access and other day services for families in crisis, including at least one family living in a car this year.
Board members complimented Couch’s work and discussed logistics for the new location: storage and access, where washer-and-dryer units would be placed and how families would access services. The board said it plans an open house to solicit additional donations once the new site is ready.
Couch also told the board she tracks students coded as homeless and that last year 50 students were coded as homeless; she said the number may be undercounted because families sometimes decline to disclose residency details. She said the center works with the district truancy team and with teachers and school staff to address chronic absenteeism and to make sure students are warm, fed and safe during school hours.
No formal board vote was tied to the report; the presentation was informational and the board indicated continued support for the center’s expansion plans.
