Women of the Moose in SLT help local homeless youth

A community group effort led by the Women of the Moose (WOTM) Chapter 408 in South Lake Tahoe is helping the homeless youth of the community

WOTM help out with the kids who are part of the Lake Tahoe Unified School District's McKinney Vento program. LTUSD receives an annual allocation of about $1,000 to purchase school supplies and help with bus transportation for its approximately 250 homeless students.

Amanda Hammond, LTUSD’s Homeless and Foster Youth Advocate, addressed WOTM at a meeting last year to explain the challenges and additional needs of the students. WOTM responded with a donation of a $300 Big 5 gift card that enabled Amanda to purchase new shoes for seven students. “The donation truly contributed heartily to my program and made meeting these kids' needs possible,” said Hammond.

The South Lake Tahoe Police Department will be providing 21 bicycles for the kids in her program, but she didn't have funds to purchase helmets so Officer Ruth Loehr, Public Information Officer with the California Highway Patrol, swiftly came to the rescue by procuring 16 helmets through a California Pedestrian Bicycle Enforcement & Education Project (CPBEEP) grant from the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). The Women of the Moose donated another $125 to purchase the remaining five helmets.

Last year, WOTM members “rescued” two bikes from Anderson’s Bike Rental at the end of the season and the South Shore Bikes team on Emerald Bay Road refurbished them free of charge. The bikes went to two homeless high school-aged young men who are now able to transport themselves about town. Amanda is excited to be able to give the gift of freedom to another 21 students in the program when the bikes are street-ready.

The South Tahoe High Interact Club did a clothing drive earlier this school year, and the WOTM helped clean the clothes for the Student Clothing and Food Closet at STHS which is run by Hammond and the STHS Booster Club.

Hammond hopes to establish a similar clothes closet at South Tahoe Middle School next school year.

The Chapter regularly supports many other local programs including Tahoe Arts Project, Christmas Cheer, the South Lake Tahoe Cancer League, STHS Sober Grad Night, Camp Del Oro, Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, and Tahoe Coalition for the Homeless’ Warm Room, to name but a few.

“It Takes a Village” – and Women of the Moose Chapter 408 is happy to be part of this great village of South Lake Tahoe.

If you would like to learn more about WOTM or if you are interested in supporting our homeless youth, please call (530) 541-1632.