Thursday, April 22, 2010
TEXTAREA_ID
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Resource Portfolio
Population 2977Home of the Mighty Bulldogs
The county seat of Hamilton County
Exemplary Ann Whitney Elementary
Recognized Hamilton Jr. High
Recognized Hamilton High School
Overall Recognized Hamilton ISD
Part of Special Education Co-op (Central Texas Shared Services)
Low Socio-Economic schools
While Hamilton County has its affluence, we do also have citizens that are in need. To serve our citizens in need, Hamilton County offers an abundance of services to aid in healing the physical, emotional, and mental needs of our citizens.
This portfolio blog centers around the eight resource categories related to the diversity and poverty issues discussed in Dr. Ruby Payne’s research. My hope is that it brings awareness to the needs of my community and the services provided that assists the people in need.
I introduce all this to show that Hamilton truly is “what a Hometown should be”.
Dr. Ruby Payne’s research indicates that every individual has eight resources that influence their success, and that poverty is the extent to which an individual is without the eight resources. The eight resources that Dr. Payne discusses are: spiritual, emotional, financial, role models, mental, physical, support systems, and knowledge of hidden rules.
This working Resource Portfolio is designed so that an individual will be able to find assistance in the areas of resources they are lacking.
Click on the link to view contact information on these and more Spiritual Resources that Hamilton offers.
At Christmas, the children make crafts and goodies to distribute to the elderly. Here we are making cookies and candies.
After we make the goodies, the children and youth travel to the Nursing Homes in Hamilton to distribute them. While there, we carol down the hallways. The residents and the children always seem to enjoy this!
Here we are writing letters to our soldiers. We frequently send gift packages and notes of encouragements to our soldiers and their families.
First Baptist Church has done numerous activities to help not only our community, but those in other areas of the country as well.
Click on the link below to view a video of the last "Step Up" day sponsored by First Baptist Church. Members helped to clean up the community. They also helped neighbors take care of things that needed to be fixed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoP2stTOvrQ
Members have also come together to help families in need across the country. Here they built a house for a family in one day!
This is a picture of the lady the house was built the for. She is a single mom of two whose husband had drowned the year before.
Every Friday, the pastor's wife and a group of ladies get together and make quilts to send for Lutheran World Relief. They have just boxed up 75 that they made last year. The ladies also package and send school supplies, etc. to LWR.
Quilts distributed by LWR to refugees and other people in need were first made by recycling old but good clothes, blankets, and other items.
This is a picture of some of the ladies with some of the quilts they hand made.
Resource 2: Emotional Resources
Click on the link to view contact referral information on these and more Emotional Resources that Hamilton has to offer.
Emotional Resources
To be emotionally stable is being able to choose and control emotional responses, particularly in negative situations, without engaging in self-destructive behavior. This is an internal resource that shows itself through stamina, perseverance, and choices. Having strong emotional resources is the key in having strong lifelong stability. Many times people are faced with making tough choices, and because of outside influences and the lack of positive relationships, some people can feel helpless. Hamilton offers a variety of resources to help in this area, as well as providing people with the access to get help from government agencies.
1. Rock House Masonic Lodge #417
The men of Rock House Masonic Lodge provides resources and aid for many children in our community. They know that often times, children tend to be "the forgotten ones" in times of adult crisis. Through out the year, the men hold fund-raisers in order to raise money to support the children in need.
Below is a picture of a year-round fund-raiser. Not only are they providing a recycling service for all citizens, but they are taking the money from the recycled cans and donating it to the local organizations that help children. This trailer is always set up in the parking lot of a busy gas station right off of HWY 281.
2. CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate)
CASA is an organization made up completely of volunteers. In Texas, there are currently 5,000 volunteers serving over 20,000 foster children. These volunteers get to know the child and speak to everyone involved in the child's life. The information they gather and their recommendations help the court make informed decisions. CASA volunteers commit to the child and stay with them until the case is closed and the child is in a safe, permanent home. The volunteers are often times the only constant in the child's life.
Hamilton is home to many CASA volunteers. They work diligently for this children. Throughout the year, CASA volunteers of Hamilton have fundraisers to raise money for the CASA organization.
3. AL-ANON Women's Group
AL-ANON is a women's group for female family members who have been affected by alcoholism or drug abuse. Hamilton offers meetings for women weekly. Here they can get the support they need with help from professionals, as well as from other women who have been through the same ordeal. The group offers a 12-step program to help them recuperate.
4. Lion's Club
The Lion's Club of Hamilton is an organization of volunteers that work together to help those in need. This group helps to support organizations of Hamilton County.
This is where the Lion's Club Members meet. This building is also benefits 4-H clubs, city-wide garage sales, family reuniouns, etc.
Every year, the Lion's Club sponsers a youth hunt. The Lion's Club will take children and youth who do not get the opportunity to hunt out on a guided deer hunt. The children qualify by having someone nominate them. The Lion's Club will then draw names. Several children throughout the season will get the opportunity of a life time.
Here is a picture of a successful hunter.
Resource 3: Financial Resources
Click on the link to view contact referral information on these and other Financial Resources Hamilton has to offer.
Financial Resources
When we think of people in poverty, we think of people without or with little income. The people of Hamilton are always having fundraisers, etc. to donate money to families or to organizations that assist families in need.
(Hamilton Operation Providing Essentials for Kids)
HOPE was started by a Hamilton elementary school teacher. Every year, she saw children coming to school without the needed supplies. This discouraged children right from the start. Her desire was to give children in need the tools for success. It has flourished into a city wide event. Now, EVERY student in K-5th grades receive ALL their supplies for school. With the help of local churches and company/invidual donations, every student in Hamilton Elemenatary can start the year with all the tools needed for success, and their parents are releived from the financial burden of buying school supplies.
Here is a picture of the office staff greeting students and their parents on the distribution day of HOPE for Kids. Here kids sign in. A donation jar is placed on the table for anyone wanting to donate funds.
This is a picture teachers handing a student his supplies. You can see by the smiles that the teachers are enjoying this as much as the students. Distribution day is also a day for the students to meet their teachers.
Here is a picture of each students' supplies bagged up and ready to go. Teachers come the night before to start bagging up the supplies.
2. WIC (Women, Infant, and Children)
This is a government program that provides assistance to women who are pregnant or have children under the age of 5. WIC provides prenatal care for the woman, and then provides nutritioinal care for her children. Children are provided with vouchers to purchase food items like formula, cereal, cheese, and juice products. Children also receive their immunizations for free.
This is a picture of the WIC office in Hamilton.
3. Neighbor to Neighbor
Neighbor to Neighbor is a locally run government assistance program. It provides day care funding assistance, transportation to doctor visits, and helps with the referral process of other assistance programs. This program is housed in the same building as the WIC office.
The school back pack program is a local program that provides weekend non-perishable food for families in need. Every two weeks a back pack is sent home with students that are in the program. The back pack contains food like energy bars, canned goods and nutritious snack foods. The food is provided by the Tarrant Area Food Bank.
This is a picture of a sample of food that will go home with the child. You can see that it is not meant to be meals, just nutritious snacks that a child can eat over the weekend.
This is a picture of one of the student aide getting the back packs ready. They start working on bagging up the food on Thursday, so that the children can get them Friday before they leave school.
Here are the boxes of food that is delivered by the Tarrent Area Food Bank.
Resource 4: Role Models
Click on the link to view contact referral information on these and other Role Model Resources Hamilton has to offer.
Role Models Resources
This resource is most beneficial to children and young people. It involves having frequent access to adults who are appropriate, nurturing, and do not engage in self-destructive behavior. Unfortunantly,in today's world, many children go without proper adult role models. However, Hamilton acknowledges this deficit and has developed programs that will give children an opportunity to have a responsible adult role model in their lives.
1. HCYAA
(Hamilton County Youth Athletic Association)
Youth of all ages have the opportunity to participate in team sports such as football, basketball, soccer, and baseball/softaball. The coaches are all parent volunteers who want to help young athletes get the fundamentals of the sport. The volunteers give many hours in effort to teach the young people of Hamilton the fundamentals of sports as well as behavior on and off the field of play.
Here is a picture of the 5th and 6th GradeGirls Basketball Teams.
Scholarships are available for families who cannot afford the enrollment fee. The scholarships are from local residents.
Whatever the interest, 4-H has a club for you! Youth ages 3rd grade and up can belong to this volunteer run organization that focuses on community help and individual responsibility. Each club has it's skills that they work on (ex. the rifle club), however, as a 4-H member, the club is required to show the students how to become community leaders. By modeling acts of kindness, the volunteers that run each club are teaching our youth how to become responsible citizens of our community.
Here is a picture of some 4-H'ers. These young people put on a Fashion Show for a local Nursing Home. The fashions they presented were clothing that they made or were bought after taking consumer awareness classes.
Like 4-H, FFA and FCCLA are organizations that train our youth to become better citizens. FFA/FCCLA are courses that are taken as electives in Hamilton High School. These classes teach students responsibility and community awareness.
Several children and young adults benefit from what Hamilton County 4-H, FFA and FCCLA programs offer. Click to view an image of all the students benefitting from the Hamilton County Stock Show.
The Boy Scouts and Girls Scouts of America are organizations that are run by local volunteers. The program is set up to teach young people how to build character, train them in civic responsibilities, and develop personal fitness.
Resource 5:Mental Resources
Click on the link to view contact referral information on these and other Mental Resources that Hamilton has to offer.
Mental Resources
Mental resources gives the person the ability to know whether or not the information you have is correct. Inappropriate behavior usually begins when some of these are missing. Schools see this when children misbehave. They may be wanting others to focus on their behavior rather than on their lack of academic skills. Many resources are made available for citizens of Hamilton to receive mental resources so that they can become successful.
1. MHMR (Mental Health and Mental Retardation)
Citizens with mental illness, mental retardation, substance addictions and developmental disabilities have access to a well-funded, organized system of quality services and support that are responsive to individual choice and managed through a public system of Community MHMR Centers governed by volunteer trustees appointed by local government officials. Citizens who need help with their prescriptions or getting to and from their doctors can go to the local MHMR clinic for assistance.
2. Texas Department of Human Services
When a person is in need, a visit to the Department of Human Services will help. Benefits offered include Medicaid, Food Stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Children's Health Insurance, and nursing home care and other services for people who are elderly or have disabilities.
This is a picture of the Human Services building in Hamilton.
The Child Protective Services Division investigates reports of abuse and neglect of children. It also provides services to children and families in their own homes, places children in foster care, provides services to help youth in foster care make the transition to adulthood, and places children in adoptive homes.
Hamilton's Child Protective Services works with other divisions to ensure safety and well being of the child. It's offices are also in the Human Services building.
Families in Crisis is a non-profit organization that supports and empowers victims of family violence and sexual assault through safe shelter and outreach services while providing the community with awareness education and resources to create a safer community. It is also housed in the Human Services Building.
Resource 6: Physical Resources
Click on the link to view contact referral information on these and other Physical Resources that Hamilton has to offer.
Physical Resources
Physical resources are how your body works, not being without material items like a car. There are many citizens in Hamilton county that are lacking in physical resources, but with our outstanding Medical facilities, help is just a phone call away.
Hamilton General Hospital is a hometown hospital that is dedicated to meeting the health care of it's patients with compassion and personalized care. HGH provides many services for the community and the surrounding area. Many specialists come here to offer their services so that our citizens do not have to travel. Some services besides basic health care that HGH provides are emergency care, radiology, social services, few surgeries, and physical therapy.
Here is a picture of our newly built hospital that serves Hamilton and the surrounding communities.
Hamilton Wellness Center is a service from Hamilton General Hospital. This facility houses the Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitiation programs, the Physical Therapy Program, and the Physical Fitness Program.
Hamilton's Wellness Center is also recently built. 
3. Hamilton Special Care Clinic
Hamilton Special Care Clinic is a part of Hamilton General Hospital. It's primary goal is to improve the mental health function, independence, adjustment and well-being of Senior Citizens.
4. Hamilton Rural Health Clinic
The Rural Health Clinic offers a variety of procedures including minor surgery, stress testing, I.V. therapy, family planning, child hood immunizations, and other basic health needs.
5. Hamilton County CareNet Pregnancy Center
This is a non-profit pro-life organization that offers pregnancy counseling and information. It provides care, educational materials, maternity clothing, and baby clothing and supplies to its recipients.
Resource 7: Support Systems Resources
Click on the link to view contact referral information on these and other Support Systems Resources that Hamilton has to offer.
Support System Resources
Support systems are a person's backup resources that they can access in times of need. They are external resources, such as friends and family. With Hamilton being such a small town, it is easy to find support systems because we consider everyone as family or friend.
1. HOP Van
The HOP van can be seen all over town and the rural area. It provides transportation to those who need to get to a doctor's appointment (both locally and away), school, etc. It is on as needed basis. It is housed out of the Senior Citizen Building (Human Services)
Below is a picture of one of the vans that can be seen.
Alcoholics Anonymous® is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking.
Citizens of Hamilton that have a desire to stop drinking meet at the St. John Lutheran Church
Benefits offered by the Hamilton office of Texas Department of Health include newborn screening, immunizations, primary health care, WIC, etc. It also provides assistance in how to obtain government assistance programs. Hamilton's office is located in the WIC building, shown above.
4. Employment and Disability Connections
This service provides assistance for people who are disabled, but have a desire to work. This agency helps the person find a job, and then gives the person assistance in keeping the job. A citizen of Hamilton that needs this assistance will find help in the Human Services Building.
Resource 8: Knowledge of Hidden Rules Resources
Click on the link to view contact referral information on these and other Hidden Rules Resources that Hamilton has to offer.
Hidden Rules Resources
People who are in generational poverty are governed by another set of rules than those who are middle class. Typically, schools and society operate with the middle class set of rules. This could cause trouble for those who do not understand those rules. Through community programs, children who are in generational poverty are being taught that there are two sets of rules: one to be successful on the streets, and another one to be successful in life.
1. Head Start Program
The objective of Head Start Programs is to provide all children with a safe, nurturing, engaging, enjoyable, and secure learning environment, in order to help them gain the awareness, skills, and confidence necessary to succeed in their present environment, and to deal with later responsibilities in school and in life. Each child is treated as an individual in an inclusive community that values, respects, and responds to diversity.
Although Head Start is not a part of Hamilton ISD, it's building is on the Hamilton ISD's facilities.
2. Hamilton ISD
The Hamilton Independent School District mission is to provide the highest quality instructional staff and facilities to ensure that all students achieve their greatest academic potential, enabling them to be responsible and successful citizens. HISD believes that:
All students can learn;
Graduating from HISD will provide a solid foundation for success in post secondary education and/or the work place;
Students will receive instruction in core academic areas from a curriculum that is both vertically & horizontally aligned;
High expectations foster high achievement;
Individuals are responsible for their actions;
Change is inevitable, creating new possibilities and challenges;
The family, school, and community share the responsibility for the positive and successful development of our youth;
Personal responsibility enhances individual development and achievement;
Effective communication is essential to remove barriers, create opportunities, and promote understanding;
People learn and perform best in a safe and supportive environment.
3. Central Texas Shared Services
Central Texas Shared Services is the Special Education Co-op for Hamilton and the surrounding counties. It provides all the services needed for Students with Disabilities ages 3-22.
4. Hamilton ISD Athletics Programs
Beginning in 7th Grade, students who are eligible academically can participate in HISD's Athletic program. It offers a variety of both team and idividual sports throughout the school year.
This concludes my Resource Portfolio. My hope is that it has assisted someone in need.