Announcer (00:01): Highlighting the amazing stories from inside the North Clackamas school district. This is the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, hosted by longtime principal and current community relations director, Curtis Long.

Sound From Wichita Center (00:14): Okay. Ika, I'll put you in line. Okay. Allah. Hi. How's it go? Did you sign in with the computer? Perfect. Start there and then I'll get you in the, the forms to get you in line.

Curtis Long (00:23): It's early morning at the front desk of a busy North Clackamas building, but these aren't the sounds of a school office. Just before the first bell rings.

Sound From Wichita Center (00:32): Alright, perfect. All right. Marissa's good. Okay. You wanna run down to the closet? Okay. Yeah, I, because I didn't see you check that off.

Curtis Long (00:38): And these aren't late students looking for a tardy pass before heading to class. These are community members from all corners of our school district and they're looking for a little extra help.

Sound From Wichita Center (00:49): All right. Go ahead and grab and fill out. How are you? Good, how are you? Good. Fill that out. I'll get you in line. It's moving. It's not as bad as it looks.

Curtis Long (00:57): This is the Wichita Center for Family and Community, a North Clackamas Resource Center located in the heart of our district. And for more than a decade, has provided N C S D families from Milwaukee to Happy Valley. Access to help with needs ranging from housing to preschool programs along with an extra source of food.

Sound From Wichita Center (01:16): And then when you come back, make sure I get your food. We don't forget it. Okay. Yeah.

Curtis Long (01:19): Clothing.

Sound From Wichita Center (01:20): These look so comfy!

Curtis Long (01:22): And most importantly, hope for a better future.

Sound From Wichita Center (01:25): It's just a nice little community place to come to.

Curtis Long (01:28): Sheila is an Oak Grove mother of five with former or current North Clima students ranging in age from 19 down to younger sister Elena, who's quick to tell you her age all by herself. And how old are you? Like hundreds of other families each year? Sheila's family utilizes the Wichita Center for much more than the onsite food pantry.

Sound From Wichita Center (01:48): The Clothing Closet's pretty nice. I have older kids that are in high school and middle school and when I talked to them about going to the clothing closet, they like to come with me as well because there's lots of nice things. There's also new things. There's shoes and that's what my kids like to come for. My older kids like to come for the shoes.

Curtis Long (02:06): What would you do if the Wichita Center wasn't here?

Sound From Wichita Center (02:08): I don't know. We probably wouldn't have these resources. I probably wouldn't know about the Head Start program here and might have to figure out somewhere else to go to for, for food. I am not sure if they have another place to go to for clothing, so it'd be a little bit different if it wasn't here. <laugh>

Curtis Long (02:25): And making a difference is what the Wichita Center for Family and Community is all about. Today on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, we sit down with the directors and partners who work behind the scenes to make sure this beacon of hope converted from an elementary school more than 13 years ago continues to shine brightly for our North Clackamas community.

Sound From Wichita Center (02:44): I mean, it's important because this is where I get, you know, my extra food. And also I learned about the preschool program, the Head Start program, and I learned about several other programs that are in this building. And I have signed my kids up for the preschool and the WIC and uh, we come here. We look forward to coming here every week.

Curtis Long (03:06): And joining us today on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast are some of the heroes working behind the scenes at the Wichita Center for Family and Community. Natalie Whisler, the Director of Community Services, Jen Kiltow, our Director of Student and Family Services and Integrated Programs. And Claudia Milena, administrative assistant at the Wichita Center. Welcome to all of you. Thanks so much for joining today's podcast. Now, as we always do, let's have each of you introduce yourselves. Tell us a little bit about your position in N C S D so our listeners can put a voice with the name.

Jen Kiltow (03:33): Hi I am Jen Kiltow. I am the Director of Student and Family Services and Integrated Programs. I am a proud North Clackamas employee for the past 22 years and this is my first year in this department and I'm super excited to be here today and to talk about our passion around the Wichita Center.

Curtis Long (03:51): And I have to say all three of our guests today, very excited. They even wanted to wear the headphones here in the studio. One of our few guests that wanted the whole experience with the headphones on. So make sure you check that out in the photo that goes along with this. Claudia, how about you?

Claudia Milena (04:02): I am the administrative assistant for the Wichita Center. So I work the front desk greeting, uh, all the clients that come in now.

Curtis Long (04:08): How was it hearing your voice there in that little intro?

Claudia Milena (04:11): It was a little weird, a little weird hearning myself back.

Curtis Long (04:14): I was joking around that we should have a segment just called Stump Claudia because she knows every single person that comes into that office. Every single guest that comes through there.

Claudia Milena (04:22): Thank you. I try <laugh>

Curtis Long (04:24): And Natalie.

Natalie Whisler (04:24): My name is Natalie Whistler. I'm the Director of Community Services for North Clackamas. I've been in this role and located at the Wichita Center for the past six and a half years.

Curtis Long (04:33): Now at the time of this recording we have an event coming up at the Wichita Center to celebrate more than a decade of resources and relationships. And we'll talk about that event in a little bit. But let's dive into the resources that this one building in the heart of our school district provides. Now the services are kind of like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Visitors don't necessarily need all the pieces at once, but each of you can speak about those pieces. For our listeners who aren't aware of this amazing resource center within our district, let's break down some of the pieces. Now you guys talk about the ones that you're most familiar with and let's educate our listeners about what goes on inside that building. Now we heard it at the beginning with Claudia greeting all of those different people and they had different services that they were accessing. What should we know about this Wichita Center that I'm sure a lot of people have seen as they drive by on King Road? May be wondering what goes on inside that building.

Natalie Whisler (05:18): The Wichita Center is a really unique collaboration model. So the center itself houses two district departments, the departments that Jen and I each represent. And then it also houses a number of community partners that also provide services. For example, we have a WIC office, the program that provides supplemental nutrition to women, infants and children. We have Clackamas County Mental Health Services present in the building. Clackamas County Children's Commission provides Head Start services. Uh, so there is a preschool located in the building as well. Neighborhood Health Center provides dental services and our education foundation is also located in the Wichita Center.

Jen Kiltow (05:54): We also have a food pantry and clothing closet for families that have food insecurities or need to do a little extra shopping to have something to wear to school. We also have a McKinney-Vento office where we have a staff member who is a McKinney-Vento liaison. He works specifically with people experiencing houselessness and foster youth as well. So it's a fairly robust service that we are able to provide to our families.

Claudia Milena (06:21): We've got our Ready Set Go program as well.

Jen Kiltow (06:23): Our Ready, set Go program Thank you, is supported through Metropolitan Family Services. It's a preschool program that families are directly involved in as well and they get in the classroom with the kids and and learn right along with the kids. That's pretty cool.

Curtis Long (06:35): And Claudia, they just named off all these different programs and I'm gonna bet that you greet every one of these people who come in for those different programs. What's it like being at the front desk of all of these people coming in and accessing different services? One, how do you keep track of all that and two, what's that like knowing that you're kind of a familiar face and a conduit to these different services that they rely on?

Claudia Milena (06:54): Oh I love it. It's super important to me. Just being able to greet everyone that comes in and figure out what's, what resources they're looking for, being able to identify that, being able, most importantly, to make them feel welcome and create an environment where they feel safe to be able to ask for the help or the resources that they're looking for. And it has a special place for me. It's really personal for me.

Curtis Long (07:14): And we heard you at the beginning, you're able to speak Spanish? Yes. Do you know any other languages based on what you've learned from people coming in?

Claudia Milena (07:19): Well no. I'm fluent in Spanish. Yeah, that's my first language. I do not know any other languages, but I've picked up a few words I

Curtis Long (07:25): I thought so

Claudia Milena (07:26): Hello in different languages and just, uh, we do have a pocket talk, which is really great. It allows us to be able to speak in a language directly to it and it translates it right away in the appropriate language. And then the other person can speak back in their language and it translates it to English. So that really helps break down the barrier that we have with language with some of our families. The majority of our families. Well close, I'd say about half of our families speak a second language.

Curtis Long (07:50): And Claudia, would you say that we have some visitors that come pretty regularly? Like you can count on certain families showing up on Tuesdays or certain families showing up on Thursdays?

Claudia Milena (07:59): Absolutely. Yeah. We have a lot of our visitors, a lot of our clients are return, so they come once a week. So we get to know them really well in their children really well, which is really helpful because you can kind of identify what services they need. But we do, we're constantly getting new applicants so it's great. We're constantly getting new families coming in, looking for different resources. And

Curtis Long (08:16): Let's talk about now Natalie and Jen, you named off a bunch of different services that are maybe partners with the Wichita Center. Let's talk about some of them. 'cause they're not here to represent themselves. Let's make sure that we give them credit for what they do. Let's go one by one. Talk about, uh, the first one that comes to mind that share that space there with Wichita.

Jen Kiltow (08:32): So Metropolitan Family Service supports our Ready, set Go program and they've been partnering with us for many, many years. But the program is specifically set up for our youngest, youngest students entering school for the first time as preschoolers. And what's beautiful about that partnership is they have parents of those children come into the classroom with the kids and learn right alongside them and really get an experience about what school is going to look like for their kiddos prior to entering our school district.

Curtis Long (08:59): So there is a functioning preschool classroom in that building going on.

Jen Kiltow (09:03): There's actually multiple.

Curtis Long (09:04): Oh Okay.

Jen Kiltow (09:05): Because in addition to that, we have through Clackamas County Children's Commission, uh, head Start. So we have multiple preschool programs in that building other than Ready, set, go. And Head Start again is a preschool program. So before students ever enter our North Clackamas buildings, they have the opportunity to get an experience a couple days a week of what school will look like.

Curtis Long (09:24): Now do families come from within our school district or are they coming from all over?

Jen Kiltow (09:28): We do have many, many of our families that will enter in through either Ready Set Go or a Head Start program before they enter into our buildings.

Curtis Long (09:37): So we have kids that come from Wichita Center to say

Jen Kiltow (09:40): Seth Lewelling Elementary,

Curtis Long (09:41): Seth Lewelling. I was trying to think of the closest one there. And, and then they go through Ardenwald Elementary. Yep, that's right.

Natalie Whisler (09:45): And Whitcomb

Jen Kiltow (09:46): Yep Whitcomb and then they would, you know, go through the entire Milwaukie feeder system potentially.

Curtis Long (09:51): Now how many times are any of you tempted to just hop into the preschool classroom and see what's going on in there? Or maybe participate

Natalie Whisler (09:57): All the time! <laugh>, I wish. Uh, Clackamas County Children's Commission also offers an early Head Start classroom at Wichita Center. It's one of the few early Head Start programs in Clackamas County. And early Head Start actually starts with infants.

Curtis Long (10:11): Oh my gosh.

Natalie Whisler (10:12): So we have an infant classroom and I've offered to spend my lunch breaks if I were to have one down there rocking babies. But I, I haven't had that opportunity.

Curtis Long (10:20): So you're telling me within that building we have infants and we likely have two year olds, three year olds getting their first experience with school because that program is offered within our school district. There do families have to specially qualify for that? How does a family qualify for that program?

Natalie Whisler (10:34): Headstart's a federal program and has federal income guidelines for eligibility. So they have to go online. There's an application online, there's also a telephone number they can call and they can set up an appointment and do an intake with one of their advocates and then sit down and see if they qualify based on their income.

Curtis Long (10:50): Any other programs that we wanna talk about that are within that building?

Jen Kiltow (10:53): Well I think the oral health program, we call them the Smile Squad

Curtis Long (10:57): Yes I have that on my list here. I like that's a creative name. The Smile Squad.

Jen Kiltow (11:00): The Smile Squad. And they do preventative care for our students, their oral health needs. They do examinations, they do dental sealants.

Natalie Whisler (11:09): Oh

Jen Kiltow (11:09): They do sealants. And then they also go into the classrooms and they teach the kids how to brush their teeth and about good oral health. And so it's really an important program.

Curtis Long (11:18): So we have all of those things going on. Are we missing anything? Oh, Natalie rolled her eyes. She's like, oh are we missing anything? Of course we are.

Natalie Whisler (11:24): There's so many <laugh>. We have Susan Bush who runs the self-sufficiency department, um, of human services. Yep. And she helps DHS. Yep. She helps families with uh, signing up for SNAP benefits. A lot of families might feel intimidated to go to a D H S office or may face transportation barriers to get to an O D H SS office to access programs such as SNAP or TANF or E R D C programs that can help families bridge the economic gaps that they face. But we're lucky enough to have Susan in our office and she can meet with families right there at Wichita. So we're able to help families access multiple services in one sitting.

Curtis Long (12:03): Okay. I'm looking down my list. I see Smile Squad. We covered them. Oregon Department of Human Services, we covered them. Ready, set, go. That's the preschool group. We've covered them. And the infants right? They've got little, little kids. Okay. How about Clackamas County Health Centers? I see them on here.

Natalie Whisler (12:18): Yeah. They provide behavioral health services at Wichita. So we have two therapists from Clackamas County, um, one of whom is bilingual and they work primarily with children that have experienced trauma and they're able to see students at the Wichita Center for therapy appointments.

Curtis Long (12:33): And what people maybe don't realize is that Wichita was once an elementary school about 13, 14 years ago. That was an elementary school. So you're working out of a converted elementary school. So many of these programs are happening in a room that was once a classroom. Correct. And you've converted the gym. We'll get to that. The cafeteria is a converted space. So you've really taken what was once a school and converted it into this great resource center for the entire community. So let's talk a little bit as we convert to those. So let's say we're headed to what was once the cafeteria? What's in the cafeteria now? <laugh>?

Jen Kiltow (13:02): Well it's still cafeteria. It's still cafeteria.

Natalie Whisler (13:03): Oh, <laugh>.

Curtis Long (13:04): Well that's not a anti-climatic.

Claudia Milena (13:06): Head Start uses it. They make lunches for their kiddos. And so Jody is the cook in there and she, uh, prepares lunches and breakfast for the kiddos.

Curtis Long (13:14): So it's still used as a cafeteria. Yep. It's an eating space. And uh, the kitchen is still in use the gym though. I know they don't play basketball in the gym anymore. Tell us about what's going on in the gym.

Claudia Milena (13:24): In the gym we have our clothing closet for our students. So if you are a student, whether you're in Head Start Ready Psycho or any of our North Clackamas school district schools, you're welcome to come into the gym. It's four times a year where students can pick out clothes and so we get a lot of donations of clothes and shoes and the kids can come in and pick out their own stuff.

Jen Kiltow (13:43): Yeah. When students come in or families come in, the clothing and shoes that they can choose from are, are generously donated. And we have some really amazing people in our community both from a business standpoint as well as from just people in their homes and making these wonderful donations for our, uh, generally used clothes or in many cases new clothes and shoes for our families.

Curtis Long (14:02): Yeah, that's what I was gonna say is I took a look in there. There were a lot of brand new things that were available for families to access and I saw other things that you maybe wouldn't think of, like baseball cleats. So if someone wants to participate in sports and doesn't have the right foot equipment, you had cleats there, you had high top shoes for basketball players, all kinds of great donations for kids to be able to participate in youth sports in the community as well.

Claudia Milena (14:22): Credit to Kathy Harrison who does a lot of work with our donors and getting the donors in the door and making sure that she's advertising the needs of the center. I know one thing right now that she's in need of is hygiene. Mm-hmm.

Curtis Long (14:33): <affirmative>

Claudia Milena (14:34): And clothes for teen boys. Not Kathy personally. So Right. Not Kathy personally, but it's one of the requests that she's making is for hygiene and uh, clothes for teen boys. Uhhuh

Curtis Long (14:42): <affirmative>.

Claudia Milena (14:42): And so she works really hard to try to get as many donors, but we do have a lot of people just walk off the street and bring us in 'cause they've heard about us or someone told them or they saw it on Facebook or social media. And so they'll come in and we've got families that go out and buy brand new things. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

Curtis Long (14:55): And we also have several of our schools that participate in drives throughout the year. Absolutely. I know as a former elementary school principal, our school would often do drives to benefit the Wichita Center. So I'm sure you get donations that come in a big batch from a school at one time or another.

Natalie Whisler (15:08): I know my son is collecting items at Rowe right now they're in the middle of a drive and many other schools will this time as well.

Curtis Long (15:14): OK so we've talked about the cafeteria, which is still a cafeteria. The gym, which is being used as the closed pantry. How about, uh, down the hall? I know there's some bigger classrooms down there that are used as the food pantry. Tell us a little bit about the food pantry and how it works.

Claudia Milena (15:29): So the food pantry is available to all families in the North Clackamas School District, whether you're actively have a student enrolled or not. But if you have a minor child and you live within our boundaries Mm, it's available to everyone. And so how it works is families come in, they just fill out a form letting me know that they're there. We put 'em in line and then they're able to do their own shopping, which is really neat. A lot of food pantries will box up things, but we don't, we actually allow families to go back with a cart and do their own shopping and they're allowed to access that one time a week. And there are certain limits of what they can grab, but depending on the size of the family. But we have things like diapers, formulas, all kinds of food. And we even keep emergency bags. So if a family comes in, let's say a person comes in and they don't live within our boundaries and don't qualify for the food pantry, we have emergency bags that we're able to give to them so that they have something to hold them over. And then we have lots of resources that we give to them also so that they can see other food pantries in the area that they would qualify for.

Curtis Long (16:22): And it's not only canned and boxed goods. Right. So there are perishables back there. I saw a couple of refrigerators that people were drawing from and baked goods that are donated.

Claudia Milena (16:31): Absolutely. And that is definitely a big credit to grocery stores like Trader Joe's, Walmart, WinCo, grocery Outlet, who are all very generous donors and donate fresh fruit, fresh veggies, meats, eggs, milk. Milk is definitely another thing that, you know, we're a little low on sometimes, but we get donations from all of them. So it's definitely a big help.

Jen Kiltow (16:51): We also have a really strong partnership with the Oregon Food Bank and they support us with many of those items and the surrounding community in our immediate area. Like Cloudy said, the Trader Joe's and WinCo and, and some of those other stores are just very generous. We also partner with many churches that support food items in the form of maybe our backpack buddies, which is where we send food home on the weekends with some of our students who are needing weekend food. And so really all these partnerships that have been developed over the years are super important to providing food and clothing for our community members.

Curtis Long (17:24): And as you've heard so far, food and clothing aren't the only things provided by this bustling resource center in the heart of our school district. We've also learned about dental screenings and even a preschool right down the hall.

Natalie Whisler (17:36): Sometimes I have babies and toddlers just wander into my office and brighten up my day

Curtis Long (17:41): Coming up, learn how those community members this converted elementary school serves also want to brighten the day for other visitors.

Natalie Whisler (17:48): And we have families who even have come to the food pantry and then found themselves in better situations and they start donating mm-hmm <affirmative> back to the food pantry or they bring in their clothes that they, you know, they take and then they also bring back even as they're actively using it

Curtis Long (18:01): And why the Wichita Center's mission is so personal for those who work there.

Claudia Milena (18:06): I see a lot of myself and my family and them. Uh, when my parents moved here from Columbia, uh, they didn't speak English and we were living in very low income housing and they didn't have a Wichita Center. And so I was the kid who, me and my siblings had to translate a lot and had to kind of figure things out for my parents. But there wasn't the resources.

Curtis Long (18:26): More touching stories about the impact of NCSD's Wichita Center for Family and Community right after this.

Announcer (18:34): Are you looking for a job right now? Looking to work in a fun and supportive environment with great pay and a rewarding career? The North Clackamas School district is hiring. We're currently filling full and part-time positions. You can work and make a difference in young lives and education as a classroom assistant or a substitute teacher apply to work in one of our school cafeterias where our lunch staff serves up big smiles with great food every day. We're also looking to hire before and after school caretakers, custodians, and bus drivers in North Clackamas. We promise it won't take you long to learn why our employees say they're proud to be in N C S D apply today on the North Clackamas School District website or call 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000. That's 5 0 3 3 5 3 6,000.

Curtis Long (19:28): And I think one thing we wanna certainly highlight, it's not like you guys have a ton of employees who are stocking shelves and refurbishing things. You rely heavily on volunteers and you get them from all different corners of the school district.

Claudia Milena (19:40): We do. We actually have four program associates that work in the pantry full time. So, and they are rock stars. They're amazing. That's Jesse, Laura Beck and Ebony. So they do a great job at that. But we have a ton of volunteers. Everyone from teachers to just community people who wanna come in and and help out for a few hours. Even some students have come in and volunteered. We have a couple student volunteers who come out and and help us out, get everything stocked up and help kids pick out clothes. So that's really great.

Curtis Long (20:05): So for people who are listening and say, Hey, I would love to be involved with the Wichita Center, I'd love to volunteer, where should they go? Is there a website they go to? How do they become a volunteer for you?

Claudia Milena (20:14): So there is a section in North Clackamas School District website for volunteers. They can sign up. We have a flyer at the Wichita Center that shows them how they can go ahead. It's a quick form that you fill out online and a background check. I believe that you have to pass and then get you right started. We actually have had families, uh, parents that come in and say, you know, I come here all the time, I'd like to give back. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So then they sign up to volunteer and that's been really helpful.

Curtis Long (20:36): Now you mentioned earlier too that there is a McKinney Vento homeless liaison within the Wichita Center. A lot of people don't know that term. Those of us in education do. But for our listeners, let's explain what that means. What is a a McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaison, that's Jalaam Roberson who does that? Let's explain what Jalaam does and what that program does for our students in our community.

Jen Kiltow (20:55): Sure. So our McKinney-Vento liaison directly supports families who are experiencing houselessness and also our foster youth. And so he will go out and connect with families who may be needing some additional resources, may be needing stable housing and we can help with emergency housing. We can help with transportation to and from school and making sure students are where they need to be so that they don't miss class. We also can work directly in the schools with students. Jaylen will go and meet with students. Um, we have some family advocates that will go and meet with students and just do check-ins and make sure that they are getting what they need. It's a federally funded program and just very important that we keep kids in school regardless of what their living situation is.

Curtis Long (21:36): And I think what some people don't realize it right in the North Clackamas school district, if you have kids within our school district, in your son or daughter's classroom, could be students who don't have a home to go home to after school ends or don't have anyone to get them ready in the morning. And that's what Jalaam is helping with to make sure those kids have the same access that everyone else.

Jen Kiltow (21:55): Absolutely. We wanna take away the barriers that are keeping kids from school. So if a student needs hygiene items, we make sure they have hygiene items. If students need shoes, we make sure they need shoes, they need vouchers for if their family needs vouchers for gasoline, we can provide those things if they qualify. So the Wichita Center houses so many different programs. Mm-hmm <affirmative> that really the idea is to remove barriers for students to attend school.

Natalie Whisler (22:18): And I think that's really the beautiful thing about having so many programs housed together. It really facilitates that staff collaboration. We may have a family that's experienced houselessness and we're able to get them an emergency referral into one of our afterschool programs. As you mentioned, you know, students may not have a place to go afterschool and our afterschool programs staff are also housed out of the Wichita Center as well. So we may be able to facilitate that referral. And then J L A M is able to facilitate getting that family transportation so they can get there. And we may have one of our staff bring a food box directly out to the family at their afterschool site. Again to just break down as many of those barriers as possible. And having all of these staff members working together in the same place really makes that come together for folks.

Curtis Long (23:03): And this all comes out of our school district, it's a part of our school district. Not every school district has that. I think North Clackamas is pretty unique in that all of these services are in one spot for families within our school district. Now. We heard Sheila at the top of this podcast and Claudia's smiling right now. She knows Sheila kids in age from 19 down to one. And she says she doesn't know what she would do if the Wichita Center wasn't there. Do you have other families, I'm sure you do have other families that have really relied on the Wichita Center to kind of get them back on their feet, so to speak, and they come back so appreciative and maybe want to help or want to give back.

Claudia Milena (23:35): Yeah. I'm so glad you asked that. We have lots of families who do that and we have families who even have come to the food pantry and then found themselves in better situations and they start donating mm-hmm <affirmative> back to the food pantry. Or they bring in their clothes that they, you know, they take and then they also bring back even as they're actively using it. Uh, so we do have a lot of families that give back in that way and it's wonderful. But I did wanna touch on the, how you said a lot of districts don't offer what the Wichita Center offers. Yeah. And that's so true. I get calls from other districts all the time from families and other districts saying, you know, can we access the Wichita Center and how come there isn't one in my school district? And so that's always kind of a tough one where you feel like, I wish every district offered a place like Wichita Center 'cause it's just, it's a wonderful place and it makes it easy for families too who have sometimes trouble transportation is an issue for them. So if everything is in one place, well they can drop the kid off at Headstart and then they can come over and access the food pantry, visit wic and then by that time the child is done and they can pick up their kid. So it, it cuts back of them having a driver, you know, take the bus across town. Yeah. They can access everything in one place and it's really special.

Curtis Long (24:36): Claudia, I can hear the pride in your voice and the gleam in your eye that other people can't see 'cause this is an audio podcast, but you're very proud of what you do and it seems to me very happy with what you do. Talk about what's the best part about your job?

Claudia Milena (24:48): The best part of my job is interacting with the families. I see a lot of myself and my family in them. Uh, when my parents moved here from Columbia, uh, they didn't speak English and we were living in very low income housing and they didn't have a Wichita Center. And so I was the kid who, me and my siblings had to translate a lot and had to kind of figure things out for my parents. But there wasn't the resources that we have at our center. So, you know, there were times I'm sure my mother went without and we went without because we didn't have that. So I feel a sense of pride working there and being able to give to the community that I feel I'm a part of. So it's really special to me. And to be able to translate and provide bilingual services is really special to me.

Curtis Long (25:27): And Natalie, how about you? You supervise a lot of the programs that are going on maybe within the Wichita Center. You overhear a lot of these conversations that Claudia is having upfront. That's gotta be pretty heartwarming too.

Natalie Whisler (25:36): It's amazing. It's a wonderful place to work. I came in this morning and had my door open for the first bit and you can hear Claudia Milena greeting everyone by name. Sometimes I have babies and toddlers just wander into my office and brighten up my day. And I always appreciate that. But I really love that connection with families, with the community and being a place where everyone really connects and works together for a common goal.

Curtis Long (26:01): And Jen, how about you? You've been a teacher in our school district, you've been a coach, you've been a principal of an elementary school, you've helped manage principals. Now you have, this is a new position for you. How does this differ from what you've done in the past?

Jen Kiltow (26:13): Well I think that when you think about how directly Wichita Center affects our students in the classroom, that's what really speaks to me is that the work that we are doing at the Wichita Center is directly impacting that second grader or directly impacting that high school senior ready to graduate. Because again, we're removing the barriers that we're keeping them from being able to be potentially successful. And so I think that that's super important that from day one when you walk into Wichita, if you have a need, we are gonna try and figure out how to meet that need so that you can be successful in the classroom.

Natalie Whisler (26:50): Yeah, you can go anywhere and get a referral, but at Wichita we can walk someone down the hall and personally introduce them to Susan and that's a very different feeling than being handed another phone number. Mm-hmm <affirmative> to call and another, you know, list of contacts to make a personal connection and really be able to get what you need. Mm-hmm.

Curtis Long (27:07): <affirmative> now at the time of this recording, it is mid-October and there is still time to spread the word about an event that we have coming up October 18th, four to 6:00 PM We're gonna kind of showcase what's going on in the Wichita Center and celebrate all the relationships and resources that we have available. Let's talk a little bit about that event coming up here on the 18th.

Natalie Whisler (27:25): Yeah we're inviting community leaders, partner organizations and other supporters in the community to come and see what we do firsthand. Our partners will be there with information available about all the wonderful things that they do. And we'll have our staff there as well to give tours of the building and see a little bit of what we do firsthand.

Jen Kiltow (27:43): Anything else? We can't wait for people to meet Claudia and see that smile firsthand and be greeted by one of the most wonderful, amazing people that I know. Yes. If she, if you've never met Claudia, that is your night to do it. <laugh> <laugh>,

Claudia Milena (27:56): Please come. We can't wait to meet everyone. She'll get lonely if we don't have enough people there for her to talk to. It's true. Yeah. I am a little bit of a talker. I think I keep families there longer than necessary, but I think it's really important for people to come in and feel at home, feel welcome, feel like this is their center, this isn't our center, it's theirs and it's here to serve them and to assist in any way. And I think that every morning when I wake up and go to work, that's my goal is just can I make everyone feel welcome? Whether it's a staff member or a family or just one of our community partners. I want everyone to feel like we're all in this together and everyone's welcome and that I think that's really special about the Wichita Center. It's that feeling of like everyone knows you and you come in and we know your story, we know your name and we're here to help.

Curtis Long (28:39): It certainly is a special place for those listeners who are tuning in right now and wondering, how do I access this center? When can I drop by? If I wanna volunteer or access the services, what's the best way to do that?

Claudia Milena (28:51): So the center is technically we're open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to four 30. However our food pantry and clothing closet is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we start at 10:00 AM On Tuesdays and Thursdays we go until six and on a Wednesday we go until four.

Jen Kiltow (29:06): If you are interested in volunteering then certainly you can check out our website, the North Clackamas website and there's a volunteer page and that will give you some information. You can also just call the Wichita Center and we can give you some information over the phone. Like Claudia mentioned earlier, there is a background check and an application process. Um, and so, uh, we would have people do that too.

Curtis Long (29:25): OK for those that are listening on their phones or they have pen and paper ready to go, let's quiz 'em right now. What is the phone number? Claudia, who would they call?

Claudia Milena (29:31): 5 0 3 3 5 3 6 0 9 1 6 0 9 1.

Claudia Milena (29:36): That would be the call. And you can hit eight would be the reception desk where I will greet you and direct you to the appropriate, uh, department that you need.

Claudia Milena (29:46): (Provides number in Spanish)

Curtis Long (29:56): How about people who want to stop by? What's the address? We know we're on King Road. Does anyone know the address?

Claudia Milena (30:01): 6 0 3 1.

Curtis Long (30:02): Look at that

Claudia Milena (30:03): Southeast King Road and it's in Milwaukee. It's right across the street from the bottle drop.

Curtis Long (30:07): Yeah, right across from the bottle drop. Yeah. Now we mentioned earlier donations as people are listening, they may want to donate. Now you'll take lots of donations, but there are some things we do have some limitations on donations as well. Let's talk about that.

Jen Kiltow (30:18): Yeah, so we do take clothing donations, gently used clothing or new clothing. We do not take home goods, so things like pots and pans and coffee makers and just general housewares. So definitely clothing we could use children's clothing in particular. And cloudy can probably speak to what our current needs are. But definitely we serve kids that are infant through high school. So again, gently used or new clothing.

Natalie Whisler (30:45): Yeah, we're always hoping for items that are free of stains, rips, tears. And we want our families to be able to come in and have a high quality shopping experience and be able to get items that their students will be proud to wear to school. And I know we're always in need of items for high schoolers, especially high school boys. Athletic wear jogger pants are in high need, larger sizes of shoes and sneakers. And as we collect coats this fall, I know we'll be in need of larger sizes, especially for boys hygiene products and non-perishable food is great too. Um, keeping in mind that some of the families that we do serve may or may not have somewhere to warm up food or a way to cook food. And so having those things that they can kind of grab and go or that are easy for the kids to grab in the morning is really important. Um, and hygiene products is always really important for any family.

Curtis Long (31:33): Well lots of times on the Proud To Be NCSD podcast, we interview N C S D staff members or students who are making positive impacts within a school or a group of schools. It's not often that we get to hear from people like you who make an impact on our N C S D community. Natalie Whisler, Jen Kiltow, Claudia Milena. What you are doing truly makes a difference. And like the title of our podcast, each of you truly makes us proud to be N C S D. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Jen Kiltow (31:58): Thank you.

Claudia Milena (31:58): Thank you so much for having us, Curtis.

Natalie Whisler (32:00): We're proud to work with a wonderful team of folks to make this happen.

Curtis Long (32:04): Thanks for listening to the Proud To Be N C S D podcast. In North Clackamas. We know that education is a community effort and we're so thankful that you and your family are a part of our community. Until next time, remember, there are always great things to see wherever you go in N C S D.