Countdown to Christmas

Supporting Education: Principal Sherri Walker's Story

A Community School's Perspective on the Impact of Necessities and Niceties

”Christmas in the Wards provides a smile for child but also provides relief for parents. Continuing to increase access to devices and the internet to students is critical for learning at home. CPS provided devices and support to CPS households but with so many homes having multiple school-aged children the demand to meet each students unique need for a full day of remote learning continues.”

Sherri Walker, Principal Harold Washington Elementary

Harold Washington Elementary

An Exemplary CIW Partner School

Located in the 8th ward on Chicago's south side, Principal Walker and her team of teachers are committed to realizing their school's mission: to provide an intellectually challenging environment that will empower students to become innovative thinkers, creative problem solvers, and inspired learners prepared to thrive in the twenty-first century.

Your donation supports Christmas in the Wards schools like Harold Washington Elementary. For the past 24 years, our goal is to reduce hardworking families' strains and burdens. With your donation and support hundreds of students can remain engaged, active learners, and participants in their education.

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The Digital Divide is Real.

Help us bridge equity, access, and resiliency in a growing educational divide.

Here's What We Know:

• Until there is a widely-available vaccine, remote and on-line learning will be an essential and required part of educational instruction.

• The average household has 2.3 school-age children. Even with school system assistance of 1 laptop per household, a shortage remains for far too many households to meet the educational requirements.

• Black, Latino, and Native American households are twice as likely as white households not to have a computer. The gaps are similar between low-income and higher-income households, and between rural and metropolitan.

• 1 in every 5 Chicagoan lives in poverty.

• 76% of CPS students rely on school meal programs for food during the day.

What does YOUR support mean?

That a generation of children is not left further behind. Every year Christmas in the Wards works with our ward communities and local schools to identify the families and students with the most need. As it has been for the past 24 years, our goal is to lessen the strains and burdens of hard-working families. With your support, in this time, hundreds of students can remain engaged, active learners, and participants in their education. We believe what we do today, in support of ALL children, will determine the world we inherit tomorrow.

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