Nonprofit opens resource room to support students and families at Fulton County elementary school
By Leondra Head
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ATLANTA (WUPA) — Filling a need and providing basic resources for students! That’s the goal for ‘Love Beyond Walls,’ a non-profit meeting the needs of students who need clothes and access to computers at A. Phillip Randolph Elementary in Fulton County.
Volunteers worked hard painting and assembling furniture to transform a classroom into a resource room known as Zion’s Closet. It will be filled with donated clothes and a washer and dryer for students and parents to use.
“For clothes and the food, there’s people that need help out there. They don’t ever want to admit it but it’s kind of hard out there right now. So I would definitely utilize it,” said Renita Knight, a mother at A. Phillip Randolph Elementary said.
Knight plans to use the resource room once it opens.
“I believe parents will use the washer and dryer, and me as a parent, I would,” Knight said.
This is something Brittany Burns, the school principal, says is needed.
“The washer and dryer is going to be essential. A lot of our students are impacted. They live in the Fulton Industrial Corridor, where there’s a lot of extended stay hotels. If you look at the area, there’s no local laundromats,” Burns said.
The resource room will also have school supplies.
“The supplies would be utilized definitely because it’s hard to get school supplies,” Knight said.
The room will give families access to computers.
“Parents can use it for jobs or use the computers to fill out applications,” Knight said.
Principal Burns says students can worry less and focus more on learning.
“Zion’s Closet is gonna provide an opportunity for kids to be able to show up and receive those supports so that they can be their very best academically and emotionally in class,” Burns said.
Zion’s Closet is already open at three other schools.
“It’s a resource room to support students in Title I schools. It’s a room where parents can actually come in and don’t feel the shame,” Terence Lester, the founder of Love Beyond Walls, said.
The resource is set to open inside A. Phillip Randolph Elementary on March 27.
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