Stalcup Grant Supports Basic Needs of Franklin Students
Submitted by Stephanie Ragland, FAA&F board secretary.
It’s Friday afternoon and the last bell has rung. Students pour out of their last period classes, fanning out in all directions: some home, others hanging out with a friend, still others rushing off to an after-school job. But there are some who remain at school, waiting for the door of Room 114 to open, which becomes a clothing closet and foodbank once school ends at 3:40 p.m.
Agnes Leapai, the Student and Family Advocate for Franklin High School, greets everyone with an enormous smile and a welcoming demeanor. Her program does its best to assist with food, clothing, occasional utility assistance, and those situations that call for an emergency motel stay. Food and housing insecurity is very real among the students at Franklin. The poverty rate for the school is higher than the Seattle School District average, and hovers in the low-to-mid-60 percent of the student body of 1,241. In the first month of school alone, more than thirty families had sought assistance. During the 2022-2023 school year, approximately 250 families were helped.
From left to right: Agnes Leapai, Student and Family Advocate, and Edith Bocker, Franklin head secretary.
This kind of effort is never accomplished alone. Ms. Leapai has been in her role since 2010, having started with a YMCA program. Her position is funded through the City of Seattle Education Levy. Together Agnes Leapai, Laura Silver, school social worker, and Edith Bocker, head secretary, work as a team to help meet the needs of countless students and their families by staffing Room 114 on Fridays, linking families and students with other service organizations and resources, keeping records, and partnering with neighborhood food banks. Most of all collectively they are a compassionate presence in the face of anxiety and despair.
Clothing rack in 114
In the fall of 2023, the Student and Family Support Program received a boost from the estate of Daniel Stalcup, FHS class of 1974. Daniel wanted to make sure that students did not go without, that they could come to school with their bellies full, and their heads held high. With the intention of providing basic needs for Franklin students, Daniel’s sister, Marilyn Stalcup, presented the Franklin Alumni Association and Foundation a check for $50,000 to be distributed over the next few years to fund basic immediate needs.
We are grateful to Daniel’s thoughtfulness and generosity and Marilyn’s dedication and compassion.
