JFK High School Teens Raise $3,652 For Single Mother Facing Eviction

WOODBRIDGE, NJ — This winter, the students at JFK High School in Iselin held their first-ever "Rent for Moms" fundraiser.

The purpose of the fundraiser is to provide a month's rent relief to an African-American single mother, according to Dawn Santana, the advisor to the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) chapter at JFK High School.

Santana is also a teacher at JFK High School and the head girls varsity soccer coach.

FCCLA is a national education non-profit with chapters in public and private schools across America.

The JFK students held multiple fundraisers, including an after-school "Lip-Sync Battle of the Teachers" night. Their fundraising efforts ended Feb. 17 with a block party held during the school day, where kids were given snacks and drinks, and played games and danced.

Woodbridge Township, at the director of Mayor John McCormac, also donated to their efforts and in total, the students raised $3,652.

All of that money will go to a single African-American mother in the state of New Jersey, said Santana. She said the non-profit is specifically looking for a mother who is facing eviction. She also said she wanted to do this fundraiser specifically in February because it was Black History Month.

The single mother who will receive the money will be chosen by a non-profit called Done For DiDi, Inc., which has the goal of providing rent assistance for African-American single mothers in the U.S.

Santana said she thinks it is important that the money specifically go to an African-American single mom because of wealth and income disparity between white and African-American New Jersey residents. The median income of white households in the state is $91,764, over 60 percent more than the median income of Black households at $56,301, according to the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. And while three-quarters (75.9 percent) of white families own their own homes in the Garden State, just 38.4 percent of African-American families do.

While its commendable to host food drives, clothing drives and toy drives around the holiday season, the main source of stress for poor and lower-income women is paying their monthly rent and trying to secure a home for a family, said Santana.

“If we were able to help give even one month's rent relief that would give that mother the ability to buy her own kids a present, or a ‘new’ clothing item or even take them out to dinner or maybe bring home a pizza instead of whatever the pantry was able to provide them," said Santana. "Most importantly it also gives that mom an opportunity to not be embarrassed and have a sense of pride and self worth.”

"After raising this money, we were extremely proud of our students," she said. "This was a true testament on how when a school, students and teachers come together, they could make a difference and start changing the world."

The students also worked with the JFK National Honor Society and the JFK High School Black Student Union to raise the money.

“When Ms. Santana first approached me, I was immediately excited about the idea," said Laurentee Bernard, Black Student Union advisor. "Although our students are constantly giving back to our Woodbridge community, I thought this was an excellent way to educate our students about the issues many Black single moms have with paying rent every month. The students in Black Student Union jumped at the chance to raise money that directly helps the African-American community. Many were previously unaware of the amount of rent disparity in New Jersey and this was an incredible learning opportunity for them."