The Montlake community is a generous one! We have rallied to support food banks and our own local school during these extra challenging times. But of course, we are a relatively lucky and affluent community compared to some of our neighbors. One such case is Rainier View Elementary in southeast Seattle.
Rainier View (RV) is about the same size as Montlake Elementary but yet has starkly different demographics. At RV, 70% of students qualify for the Free and Reduced Price Lunch program. In contrast, only 6% of Montlake students qualify. The income eligibility cutoff for this program is $56,459 for a family of eight. Additionally, 7% of students are unhoused, compared to 0% at Montlake.
Rainer View Elementary PTA has been running a GoFundMe fundraiser since the beginning of the pandemic to provide basic vital assistance for 50 school families. Their fundraiser can be found here and this is what their PTA president wrote to the Seattle Public School community via Facebook this week:
Margaret says
Thank you for the suggestion. We made a donation today.