AwesomeStPaul is proud to announce our September 2022 grant winner “Celebrating Student’s School Success.” St Paul Public Schools have over 1,700 students experiencing homelessness and living in foster care. These students work very hard to get to school and achieve academic success all the while supporting their families and trying to manage the uncertainty of their lives outside of the school hours. Students live in shelters, hotels, bus stations, at a friend's home and the list goes on. Everyday these students work to get to their schools as they know that education is the ticket for them to achieve their goals for both them and their families.

AwesomeStPaul chose this request because we want to encourage all students to reach for their goals.

According to Project REACH's social worker Heather Alden, “The luxury for a family to order a pizza to celebrate a good week or a student to stop at Chipotle with a friend is unimaginable when you are barely able to keep yourself or family housed. To support our students' hard work and the support of their families, we would like to use the $1,000 to purchase dinners for student and a friend or a family to celebrate during the school year., a birthday or a milestone. It is no small effort to navigate life and being able to have moments to celebrate would be such a gift.”