Hamilton School District

21st Century Community Learning Center

Thank you for your interest in the Keystone Program.  We are so proud of this program and what it has brought to the Hamilton School District and the community of Hamilton.  When we began this program we wanted to provide our students an opportunity to participate in activities that would be enriching, exciting and stimulating.  We have been very successful in doing that, but along the way we have found that we are offering these children and families so much more.  We are friends and support who serve as mentors, surrogate parents in those critical after school hours and coaches in self confidence and life skills.

Many of our students are considered at-risk, either academically or behaviorally, within the school system.  We offer them a chance to have success.  As economic times get more difficult we are seeing more and more families who are struggling just to cover the essentials of life.  They are fighting to keep their homes and their jobs, juggling medical bills and the rising cost of living.  Look at someone who is earning $10-12 an hour before taxes and you see someone making decent wages for the Bitterroot Valley.  Now subtract $6 an hour from that to pay for their two children to have childcare and the numbers do not look as good.  We offer a childcare environment that they can rely on and feel good about.  They know their children are safe and well taken care of by school district staff but they also know that their children are not being set in front of a television or a video game to simply kill time.  They are having experiences such as fly fishing or cross-country skiing that many parents wish they had the time or money to offer to their children.  They know they will never be discriminated against because of their level of income or inability to pay.  We are supportive of the families of the Bitterroot and we are proud of that.

We came to the end of our grant cycle July 1, 2009.  We have applied and have been approved for a new round of funding.  We receive 60% of the funding that we received in 2009.  We are turning to the community to ask them to invest in these children.  Help them gain experiences and skills that will give them strength and character, creativity, and compassion as adults.

Thank you in advance for your support!

Ria Overholt