NEWELL—Members of the Whatever It Takes Coalition (WIT) came together for the monthly meeting on August 14 at Newell Christian Fellowship Community Hall. The coalition is a group of Butte County citizens united to do “whatever it takes” to help form cohesive partnerships within the community.
With the start of a new school year, it is fitting that the August Whatever It Takes Coalition meeting would focus on getting to know the Newell School District staff. Those who are new to the area were invited to have lunch with the Coalition to learn about WIT and the resources they have to offer. Staff who have been with the district in previous years were also invited to join. The meeting was held over the lunch hour and provided a free meal to those in attendance. Lunch featured a salad bar and a dessert bar. A variety of salads, vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses and crackers were served. Cookies, cakes and pies along with coffee, tea, lemonade and water were also provided.
Because the teachers and staff were on their lunch break, the meeting got underway while everyone was enjoying their meal. Sabrina Harmon, director of WIT, informed everyone, “we’re hoping that we’ll have everybody tell us who they are and what grade they teach or whatever, and then the WIT Coalition people will also stand up and talk about how they’re affiliated and how they can help you at the school. I would like to make sure everybody signs in and then gets a little incentive from us to take as a reminder of how great you are and how much we appreciate you!”
Pastor Lance Putnam with Newell Christian Fellowship introduced himself and spent time educating the group about the services his church offers. “One of the things we offer is we have faith-based youth programming on Wednesday nights. This goes from preschool all the way through high school, and what this does for parents is if parents have to work late or something like that, they can bring the kids over for these programs. We provide a meal, we provide snacks, and then there’s obviously supervised instruction for them. Then all of our volunteers go through their own background checks, like everybody else as well,” he explained.
Putnam went on to share with the group the kind of services he can offer. “We do offer temporary trauma-informed counseling services for anyone in the community that’s dealing with loss or substance abuse or trauma issues…this service we provide in the community is designed to be a temporary, immediate—kind of a band-aid until we can get them plugged into more long-term services,” he explained. “These are just some of the resources that we provide here through our church. And again, if you have families that are interested, or families that are going through struggles, please reach out to myself or Sabrina, and we can help you guys—either students or families—get them plugged into some of these resources.”
The meeting included representatives from a variety of services available in the community, including a 4-H educator, American Legion representative, City of Newell maintenance manager and Newell mayor, along with other community members. This provided those new to the area with a variety of people they can connect with should a need arise. The Chief Deputy of Butte County Sheriff’s Office, Jason March, was also on hand to introduce himself and talk about services.
The new PK-12 principal, Mark Galpin, was at the meeting as well as Thomas Vail, the new Newell School District superintendent. There were many new faces at the meeting. All teachers and staff with the Newell School District introduced themselves and shared their roles within the district.
The meeting ended with Pastor Putnam leading everyone in a closing prayer. The next WIT meeting will be held in September.
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