- This month on The Spark, our theme is "Spreading Help and Lighting a Path or Success."

We'll learn more about the independent fundraising arm of Shelby County Schools, an education fund for Greater Memphis classrooms, and a nonprofit spreading sunshine and serving families impacted by childhood illness, and a kindergarten through sixth grade charter school personalizing the learning to enable students to reach their full potential.

We'll also share a special moment from our Spark Awards 2020.

- Lipscomb & Pitts   Insurance is honored to   serve the Memphis community   for over 60 years.

We've always focused on   supporting our community   and believe in   promoting the positives,   encouraging engagement   and leading by example.

Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance is proud to be a presenting sponsor of The Spark.

- (male announcer)   Additional funding for   The Spark is provided by   Meritan, United Way   of the Mid-South,   My Town Movers, My Town   Roofing, My Town Miracles   and by SRVS.

- Ever been excited   by a new idea,   inspired by watching   someone lead by example?

When we talk about   creating change,   we start by sharing   the stories   of everyday heroes who   are making a difference   in their own way   so we can learn   and do the same.

I'm Jeremy Park, and   this is The Spark.

They are the independent fundraising arm for Shelby County Schools.

We're here with our friend.

He's the President and CEO of SchoolSeed Foundation, Vincent McCaskill.

And let's start.

Give us a little history lesson for SchoolSeed Foundation.

- Well, good to be with you today, Jeremy.

SchoolSeed Foundation, the independent fundraising arm of the public school system here in Shelby County was founded in 2008 as a fundraising arm   for a philanthropy   in Shelby County.

And since that time, 12   years, we have been working   to make sure that people   who want to support   individual projects   that are not funded   by tax dollars   are taken care of.

So, 12 years we've been tested   we're proven, we're trusted.

We've managed   over $200 million, raised $200 million to support a whole wide range of things such as the teacher effectiveness initiatives.

You might remember when the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation came in and we handled that historic gift.

So yeah, we've been around for a while.

- Talk about some of the programs, and we'll definitely dive into the pandemic and how that shifted the focus, but talk about overall some of the different programs.

- Absolutely, so we started out as an intermediary, just dealing with handling resources, but then we began to grow our programmatic work, particularly around racial equity and so forth, making sure that we were able to help kids of color, minorities, in ways that they might not have been helped before, exposing them to college programs, HBCUs, scholarships, providing access to a scholarship database called Scholly.

And that partnership is with the City of Memphis and Shelby County government.

And so, over the last two years or three years now, we've helped more than 2,000 students gain over $11 million in scholarships.

That's a combined total.

And those scholarships follow them wherever they go.

So we're just trying to find innovative ways to fill the gap.

We're not trying to be what Shelby County Schools is, but we caught, we've tried to provide wraparound services.

That's just a small example.

We're so engaged in just about everything in various schools.

And we're just happy to be able to support our teachers and our students.

- One of the ways that you are a huge problem solver but a resource with the pandemic is when it comes to technology, headsets, wifi, connectivity.

Talk about the pandemic and some of the shifts and the pivots on your end.

- Wow, so, you know, COVID really exposed what we already knew, that there is an under-resourced community, kids suffering, access to the internet.

When Shelby County Schools decided to go remote, obviously, they provided digital devices for every student, but we realized that not every student had wifi.

And while Shelby County Schools was able to provide wifi for a number of their students, and they did a pretty good job of that, there were still some students who weren't able to qualify because they are part of the working poor.

Their parents, they make a little bit too much to receive SNAP benefits, but not enough to really be able to provide that amenity.

So we began to, we crafted a   program called Wifi On The Go   at our, and what we do is we   work with individual schools,   both traditional   and non-traditional,   making sure that students   who are still in need,   that they get those   hotspots to have access.

As it relates to the headsets,   that was a partnership   with the school system.

And we provided working   with the community, working with the Shelby County government, provided over 90-plus thousand, headsets to students so that they could focus in their homes because you have multiple kids in the homes.

And if you have multiple kids and there is no headsets, how can they focus?

- What's been the feedback on your end, either from Shelby County Schools, the teachers, the parents, what's been some of the feedback in terms of the impact you're making?

- Well, the impact is a very tangible, and it's immediate.

Kids who did not have hotspots, wifi, now have them.

We did over a thousand homes in 2020.

That's a whole lot of homes.

Those kids would not have been able to sign on, log on, which that means the absenteeism rate was a little higher.

Immediately when those kids, those families, had access, of course, those kids could show up.

So we heard immediate feedback from the administrators at various schools.

As it relates to the headsets, we have heard so much from families about this extra amenity that helps their kids focus.

And really that student needs to remain connected with the teacher, not everyone that's in the house.

So those two things we could not have done it without the community.

And we raised over a million dollars for this effort.

And we're just really ecstatic.

We know there's more work to be done, but this is just one piece that really made a difference.

- What's something that you want everyone to know, especially the public, about SchoolSeed Foundation?

- Well, SchoolSeed Foundation works with anyone in the community that is trying to do something that's school related.

People have set up scholarship funds through us, so we manage that.

We do so much.

We work with parents who might have projects in the community that will affect the students who go to the school.

We've been able to do a lot of different things working with a lot of partners.

So if you do have a project   that you want to get done   that, you know, you don't   have time to create a 501[c]3,   and you need some   agility to be nimble,   SchoolSeed is   that organization.

Again, we managed over $200 million flawlessly.

So, we are tested.

We're proven and we're trusted by many in this community.

- Well, last question is the easy one.

Where do we go, website, social media, how do we learn more and get involved with SchoolSeed Foundation?

- Of course we are on Facebook and Instagram and all the social medias, but you can go to our website.

That's schoolseed.org.

That's schoolseed.org.

And you can call us at 901-207-1472.

I'm so excited about the commitment of the community to continue to support our students.

- Well, Vincent, thank you for all you and your team do.

Greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thank you, Jeremy.

Have a great day.

[upbeat music] - They're a nonprofit serving families impacted by a childhood illness.

We're here at the Executive Director for Spreading Sunshine, Diane Smith.

And let's start, Diane.

Give us some context, a little bit of history for Spreading Sunshine.

- Sure.

Thanks, Jeremy.

Spreading Sunshine, you know, began how a lot of nonprofits begin, through a personal experience of our founder and a need.

Our founder, Abigail Sacran, was pregnant with her second child.

She and her husband went to the hospital to deliver their baby thinking it was going to be one of the happiest days of their lives.

And it turned out to be one of the most devastating days.

Their son was born, and he was, he had Down syndrome.

He also had a heart defect and a rare disease called Hirschsprung's disease.

So you can imagine just where they were in that moment, but through their time in the hospital and spending just weeks on end, they noticed that their family was being really well supported, but they saw that a lot of families weren't.

And so really, Abby, you know, even in that journey, as she's going through this herself, she thought, I really want to do something about that.

That's a problem, that's a need.

So about a year after   her son was born, her,   his nickname is Sunshine, which   is where the idea came from.

And she saw the idea   for a sunshine box,   and she thought,   well, that's perfect.

I can brighten someone's day.

So she put together a   sunshine box, sent it to   a young girl in Pennsylvania   who was having the exact same   surgery that her son had.

And she posted about   it on social media.

And you can just imagine the   idea took off and it exploded.

And that's kind of how   Spreading Sunshine began.

- And so, you have kind of two sides, the way I look at it, is you have the side that's outside of this area with the sunshine boxes, but then you also have a local that's a little bit more hands-on in terms of the approach.

So describe those two.

You've already kind of touched on the sunshine box, but talk about locally, some of the efforts that are more hands-on.

- In January of 2020, you know, we noticed, meeting all these families through our sunshine boxes that we really wanted to do more.

So in January of 2020, we actually launched   A Year of Sunshine   because we felt like   families needed support.

We were hearing things   like siblings are left out   and marriages are in trouble.

So we started the   Year of Sunshine,   which is basically the   family, whole family   gets something in the   mail each month from us.

And it's different themes.

Last year, our most popular one was the Buff City Soap self-care box for moms.

They loved that one, but as you can imagine, during COVID, those boxes became a lifeline.

And each Year of Sunshine family does have a volunteer care coordinator who checks in on them each month.

So that's kind of our national approach, but locally, before COVID we, this is where we really have to talk about before COVID and after COVID.

Before COVID, we provided meals to families, parents whose children are in the hospital.

We partner with the hospital.

We went to talk to the hospital in the very beginning and said, "Hey, we want to help.

"You're doing a great job taking care of the kids.

"We want to help take care of the parents.

"So what could we do?

What's the best way?"

And they said, you know, meals, providing meals, a warm meal, volunteers providing meals.

That's the best way.

So, you know, you   had, before COVID,   we were at the FedEx Family   House every Wednesday morning   volunteers provided   a pancake breakfast.

We were known for that.

We also provided   meals at the hospital,   at the Ronald   McDonald House.

So that all suddenly came   to a halt when COVID hit.

We are still providing meals,   but it doesn't   look the same way   because before, we were   able to meet families, connect with them and they joined our sunshine community.

And so we could do go even further and provide that encouragement and support to them.

So it's been tough, as you can imagine, for which we've all experienced that.

But I do think that it's also provided one of our biggest opportunities through our partnership with the hospitals.

Social workers began in 2020 to really contact us and say, hey, we have this family with this specific need.

And so we would put that out to our network and say, hey, how you know, this is a need.

Who wants, who can help meet this need?

And then in August of 2020, they began referring families to us.

So now we have families locally that we are serving on very practical, tangible hands-on ways.

Volunteers provide meals.

So it's kind of like the greatest problem became, was such an incredible opportunity.

- Share a little bit, because on your end, you get to see and hear from the families and the impact it has.

And like you said, you realized the flood gates opened up.

You can do so much to really help these families and provide sunshine.

How has that though changed you and your personal vantage point of just how you go about treating others and looking at the way that you're problem solving through Spreading Sunshine?

- So I'll give you one story because this is probably my highlight story of 2020.

We had a family that we had served, that we'd sent them a sunshine box.

We met with them in the hospital, visited with them.

They were a part of our community.

And in March of 2020, the mom put out a request and said, "We desperately need an RV to get our daughter to a specialist appointment in Rhode Island."

Basically, there was nothing more the local hospital could do.

They had been referred to this specialist.

They had been waiting months to go to this appointment.

And because of her immune system, they could not risk her being, you know, in the public at all.

Like, she could not be on a plane.

She had to lay down because of her illness.

And six days before they were supposed to go, I'm like, oh my goodness, this is, they need this.

And so we actually put it out on our social media thinking, I mean, this isn't gonna, we're not going to be able to help with this because who, I don't know anybody that has an RV.

One of our other sunshine moms said, "Hey, I know somebody who has an RV."

So I called this man who lives in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

And I said, hey, this is the situation.

This is the need.

You know, how much would it cost to rent your RV?

And he's like, "No, no, I'm going to donate the use of the RV.

And I'm also going to drive it to the family."

So, six days later, he delivers this RV.

This family's able to go to Rhode Island.

They're able to go to their appointment, and I'm thinking, we're just helping meet a need, right?

And she said, because of that appointment, it changed the trajectory of their daughter's illness.

It, they, it's opened some things up for them.

And she said, you literally saved her life.

Being able to go to that appointment saved her life.

So it made me realize that there, it seems like what we do is small, little things, practical touches,   tangible pieces   of encouragement,   but it does make   a big difference   in the life of family.

So I feel like I'm   a lot more motivated   to gather the troops.

Like if, you know,   in our community, we have so many families just in Memphis that are from all over and they may not have a support system here.

So that's kind of what Spreading Sunshine really wants to do is step in and help be a support to them.

- So last question is the easy one.

Where do we go to get involved?

So, website, social media, where would you send us?

- Sure, go to our website is spreading-sunshine.org, and on the website, there's different ways to volunteer, to get involved, sponsor a sunshine box.

It's so easy.

- Diane Smith, thank you for all you and your team do.

Greatly appreciate it.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Thanks so much, Jeremy.

I appreciate it.

[upbeat music] - The Spark Awards annually recognize and celebrate individuals and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the community.

The 2020 recipient of   the Nonprofit Award   for organizations with   budgets under $1 million   is Room in the Inn Memphis.

- Room in the Inn Memphis   has been providing shelter for those experiencing homelessness for over 10 years through a partnership with a network   of congregations that has grown   to around 55 different   congregations now.

Room in the Inn is based   on a hospitality model, and so that is the primary focus of everything that we do.

And so, the volunteers and   the congregations, you know,   really take that   hospitality model to heart,   where they welcome the   guests as honored guests.

They're happy to see them.

They come, they engage in   relational conversation,   accepting them   the way they are,   understanding that everybody   has their individual story.

And then some of   the ways that we see   that the relationships develop and people really experiencing acceptance and knowing that they have friends   in places that many   times they have felt   they didn't fit in   or were unwelcome.

Sometimes churches really   want to be welcoming   to people who are   having a hard time,   but we don't realize that   there are barriers to that, and Room in the Inn has helped so many congregations to break down those barriers.

And also, from the point of view of the guest, to, once again, feel welcomed in the church that they might've felt conspicuous in, or, you know, afraid to enter in the past.

I know that people of faith   want to make a difference,   and many times when you're   afraid of stereotypes,   you're afraid of things   that you don't know about.

And what Room in the   Inn has been able to do over the course of these past 10 years is to break down some of that, the fear and anxiety, and to introduce people as individuals who are in need.

And so, I think Room in   the Inn has really started   kind of a very quiet   revolution in places of faith   to open their eyes,   to needs they would   not normally see.

I think those are the stories that keep us doing this,   that the answer to their   problems is housing,   but sometimes there's a   period of time between   losing housing and   being in housing again   that Room in the Inn   tends to fill those gaps.

[inspirational music] - They're a kindergarten through sixth grade charter school here in Memphis doing amazing work.

We're here with the principal of STAR Academy Charter School, James Johnson, and you are rich in legacy in terms of your history.

So let's start with a history lesson for STAR Academy Charter School.

- Yes, sir.

So STAR is the second oldest charter school in Memphis.

And with that, that means that we have a standing legacy that shows that there is something unique or something special about the school that has allowed us to be in existence for this length of time.

- So, K through sixth grade.

Talk about the students, the diversity of the students.

Describe your students.

- Yeah, so again, as you mentioned, we currently serve kindergarten   through sixth grade students.

We recently added sixth grade.

This is our second school   year of sixth grade.

And what I can say about   our student population   is that the student   population is very diverse,   very different from the origin   when the school first began.

And what I mean by that is   diverse in their   instructional levels,   diverse in their backgrounds.

Although we still   serve a lot of students   who come from the community   that the school is presently in   we also have just   as many students who are not from the community, who are coming from all across Memphis to come, to attend STAR.

The population of STAR, because it is diverse, it is, or it speaks to our beliefs around individualized instruction and individualized student support.

And what we mean by that is we know that there are certain programs, et cetera, that students may qualify based upon a certain assessment or certain needs that they have.

However, if those students do not qualify for that mandated service, STAR still believes in providing that service for that scholar, whatever's going to make them more, assist them with being successful, we ensure that the student has that support.

- I know that technology has always played a role, but obviously with the pandemic, it plays a an even more important role, so talk about technology.

- Yeah, so again, our school has always been or had a technology focus, but this year we were able to connect students with a one-to-one ratio of devices.

So every student has their own device.

Also students, teachers, and most importantly, parents, are offered technology specific professional development throughout the school year.

So of course we're extremely aggressive during the summer and the beginning of the school year with that support.

And then we created monthly PDs for parental support for just additional technology pieces to keep parents in the loop of best practices with technology.

I think also this year, we've done a lot of work with teacher functionality with technology with various programs.

And the way that we did that were having, like, standard programming or standard technology based programming   that is used universally   throughout the entire   school year, such as Zoom,   such as Google Classroom,   such as Nearpod,   and a couple of   other applications   that we adopted school-wide.

So that means that everyone receives the same support with that school-wide implementation.

And then, of course, it trickles down to both parents and student support.

- For you, as the principal, give me maybe a couple of stats that put a smile on your face when you think about just, whether it's achievements on test scores, performance, growth, what are some stats that put a smile on your face?

- I think right away, I would say, I would have to say our attendance percentage.

At the beginning of the year, it was not well at all.

And I just think it was because, just maneuvering through, you know, parents' new scheduling, trying to make that balance work between, you know, career, now a scholar has to be at home,   or someone has to watch them.

I would say the two weeks   before spring break,   we were at a 96% attendance   rate for that previous week,   which had blew our minds   since the beginning   of the school year.

But of course that comes with   a very intense attendance and truancy plan and policy that we have in place that includes individual phone calls, home visits, et cetera.

However, I do say that that is one of the progress points that I will celebrate at this point in the school year.

- So how can we help?

How can the community help your efforts?

- Yeah, I think one way to help is we want to continue to provide individualized based instruction.

And the only way that we can do that is if we have those materials to be able to do that, teachers have the training to be able to do that.

So I think any support leaning towards helping us continue that work will be greatly appreciated.

Our students, we believe that our students deserve that type of instruction.

We believe that students learn at different paces.

We believe that students come with us with different possible deficit areas, but our job at STAR as a charter school is to provide specific what that child needs and then scaffold up to whatever the parent support that's needed.

We try to do that as well.

- The last question is the easy one, is where do we go to learn more about STAR Academy Charter School?

- Sure, so online it is www.staracademycharter.org, online.

Also on all social media outlets, @staracademy901, and that's Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

- Principal Johnson, thank you for all you and your amazing team do.

Thank you for coming on the show.

- Yes, sir.

Thank you so much for the opportunity.

[upbeat music] - Hope is a powerful word.

It's what gives us the strength to fight through adversity.

It's the belief that tomorrow can be better if we remain committed and continue pushing forward today.

When darkness is around, like it has been for so many of us during the pandemic, it's important that we, as a community, focus on spreading hope and lighting a path for success for others.

As we spread hope and light the path of success for others, it becomes like a candle that lights other candles and quickly illuminates the way for everyone, including ourselves.

That's why the work that SchoolSeed Foundation is doing for students across Shelby County Schools, the work Spreading Sunshine is doing to help families and children impacted by illness, and the work STAR Academy Charter School is doing to enable students to reach their full potential are all so important.

We need more people and more organizations focused on spreading hope and lighting a path for success in our community.

And it all starts with you and me becoming a spark.

So thank you for watching The Spark.

To learn more about each of the guests, to watch past episodes and to share your stories of others leading by example, visit wkno.org and click on the link for The Spark.

We look forward to seeing you next month, and we hope that you'll continue joining with us to create a spark for the Mid-South.

- Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance   is honored to serve   the Memphis community   for over 60 years.

We've always focused on   supporting our community   and believe in   promoting the positives,   encouraging engagement   and leading by example.

Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance is proud to be a presenting sponsor of The Spark.

[upbeat music] [acoustic guitar chords]