"Village" students pick up back-to-school supplies on Wednesday.
As Felix Feliciano picked up a pair of Jordan Six Rings Motorsports sneakers Wednesday night, the 14-year-old knew that, as he walks into his first class of freshman year of high school next week, he’ll be doing so step in step with the support system he’s found this summer.
Feliciano, who will begin his first day at Hamden High School next Tuesday, was one of roughly 20 kids and teens who had just wrapped up two months’ worth of sliding-scale summer programming — including boxing, gaming, and crafting — at Hamden’s Pershing Avenue youth center “The Village” when they were invited to pick up school supplies to soften the transition back to classrooms.
That school-supply and sneaker giveaway took place Wednesday night at the Hamden Board of Education offices at 60 Putnam Ave.
Toddlers to teenagers swung by the gymnasium to fill a free backpack with no-cost notepads, pens, snacks, and even name-brand sneakers, before school starts up.
Although the event was held in the town’s Board of Education building, it was hosted by one woman, Melissa Atterbury-Jones, who founded and runs The Village.
The Village offers full-year programming open to families from Hamden, where the organization is based, as well as New Haven.
The goods were in part purchased by Atterbury-Jones as well as donated by friends and neighbors — including EbLens, a shoe store which provided thousands of dollars worth of new designer sneakers.
Though Atterbury-Jones has organized free back-to-school hair styling and sneaker stops for more than a decade, she had just completed her second summer of youth programming through her growing non-profit.
“The kids this summer were very rowdy,” Atterbury-Jones remembered with a laugh.
Unlike last summer, which was her first year offering families affordable summer care, she said she pulled students aside for an unprecedented number of “one-on-one talks.”
“A lot of kids are really battling mental health. There’s a lot of depression. They’re going through a lot.”
Wyatt Haines, far left, and Feliciano, far right, with some of their summer camp friends.
Taylor Perry, Quinten Jones, Melissa-Atterbury-Jones, and Jason Atterbury.
The majority of children who signed up for the sliding-scale after-school activities and summer camps, like Feliciano, are in foster care. They refer to their Village peers as “family” more often than “friends.”
While all of The Village’s families are located in Hamden and sometimes New Haven, the crew of students who came out to Wednesday’s event attend schools all over the state.
Wyatt Haines, 15, goes to school in Torrington. He’s referred to by Feliciano as “my dad.”
Haines said his highlight of the summer was finding new friends — especially those who have experienced the foster care system. “It’s nice to have friends who are foster kids,” he said, “because they get what I’m going through.”
And, he added, he was excited to get his “first pair of Air Jordans,” a $300 pair of shoes.
A popular shoe pair selected Wednesday: The Jordan Six Rings Motorsport.
At 6 p.m., kids lined up to pick which supplies would suit them best. Fifteen minutes later, most had already been pulled off to dinner with their parents.
But when nine-year-old Cash Consolini dropped by the bag pick-up after most had already parted from the gym, Haines jumped to help him fill up on candy and classroom essentials.
Consolini’s foster father, Shanon Hinton, said he made a home for the second grader in his spare bedroom six months ago.
“He don’t smile at home at all,” Hinton said. “He just wanna sleep.”
It wasn’t the sleek shark print bag or brand new Adidas that finally got a slight smile onto Consolini’s face at the end of the night — but Haines and Feliciano’s persistent playful attitudes and brotherly attention.
Cash Consolini.
Jared Hunter and Natalie Shore with a few of their children.
For the parents who attended Wednesday’s event, the giveaway made an always hard back-to-school transition easier to manage.
Jared Hunter, who has six children, two of whom are foster kids, said the event saved him significant time and money.
Hunter, a project safety manager, said that he decided to become a foster parent because he and his partner, Natalie Shore, had “extra rooms” and thought, “Why not?”
But Hunter’s relaxed attitude doesn’t mean prepping for September isn’t taxing.
With the expense and annoyances of going shopping for new supplies avoided thanks to Atterbury-Jones, Hunter said he was mostly dreading inconsistent and late busing schedules that disrupt his ability to get to work on time.
Most of his kids currently attend Hamden elementary schools. Hunter said he didn’t follow the back-and-forth between the town’s Legislative Council and Board of Education this summer concerning a potential move to change school start and end times in hopes of cutting busing costs — but said that with growing driver shortages due to the pandemic it has become harder to have faith that the town’s yellow buses will actually arrive in a timely manner to transport his kids.
“All I know is that every year it’s always a mess,” he said.
Hinton, a chef at Southern Connecticut State University, also expressed gratitude towards Atterbury-Jones. He said that because of her generosity, he is able to donate to similar events taking place across his community, like the school supplies distribution scheduled at his New Haven church, Restoration and Healing Ministries.
“We give away more than we take in,” he said — with the understanding that “it takes a village to raise children.”
Dan Pierce and Paul Eusebio, representatives of EbLens, said they jumped at the chance to work with Atterbury-Jones this year after watching the work she has done to support their “customers” over the past two years.
“We’re a local sneaker shop. We all know nonprofits and charitable organizations have had a tough time, and small businesses are having a tough time too,” Eusebio reasoned. “The decision” to provide 25 pairs of the “latest stuff people want,” including Adidas, Pumas and New Balances, “was easy,” he said.
“You gonna be the man!” Eusebio cheered as he helped one student try on a pair of black Pumas.
“When a kid looks good, they feel good,” Atterbury-Jones said. “When they feel good, they perform good.”
A preview of the students’ problem-solving skills and teamwork were on display Wednesday when a toddler cried after accidentally letting her balloon drift to the high ceiling of the gymnasium — and Haines and Feliciano, whose parents had yet to pick them up, jumped to the rescue.
Climbing up on a chair and grasping a broomstick, the pair were eventually able to lower the helium silver star down to the girl.
As parents stopped by to collect their children, Feliciano and Haines were the last standing in the gym at the end of the night.
As she wrapped up the leftover pens and pencils to take back to Pershing Avenue, Atterbury-Jones turned to the boys and said: “I’ll bring you home.”
Nora Grace-Flood’s reporting is supported in part by a grant from Report for America.
Thank you to Melissa Atterbury-Jones, founder of The Village for creating supportive youth programming and organizing back to school giveaways to disadvantaged young people and all the donors and volunteers like EbLens to help children start school with supplies and footwear. It’s is especially important for foster children to have something new to wear to school for the new year, because it makes them feel special to have new shoes. As someone who as a child wore a lot of hand me downs from my cousins and thrift store clothing, having new footwear and a coat for fall and winter was a real treat for me.