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Sulzbacher Center to showcase homeless youth at annual fundraiser
Times-Union
By Beth Reese Cravey
At the age of 11, Lucy Calzadilla already aims to be an Olympian — in volleyball and track.
She also loves to read and is a high academic achiever, with seven A grades and a B on her last report card. She wants to be a therapist when she grows up.
She is so focused that even her family losing their Jacksonville apartment in May and moving into the Sulzbacher Center for the homeless did not derail her. The center’s Barnett Children’s Building, which provides tutoring, music, arts and crafts and scouting, among other things, has been a haven and helped her improve her grade-point average from 3.0 to 3.7 since her arrival.
“It was weird starting out,” said Lucy, a sixth-grader at Alfred I. Dupont Middle School. “But now I’m really comfortable.”
Lucy and her two siblings are among the 60 to 90 children who call Sulzbacher home on any given day.
The center’s youth will be the stars of the show Oct. 7 at the center’s 16th annual Transformations fundraiser, which celebrates the success of Sulzbacher residents.
“Sadly, the fastest growing face of homelessness in this country today is that of a child, over 2,000 children in the Duval County school system alone,” said Cindy Funkhouser, the center’s president and CEO. “That is why this year’s Transformations is so timely and it’s message so important. We know that education is the great equalizer.”
That’s why Duval County Public Schools, Florida State College at Jacksonville and the University of North Florida are among the center’s partners, she said.
With their help, Funkhouser said, “We are helping our children and youth at the Sulzbacher Center beat the odds and succeed in school and in life.”
Another one of those Sulzbacher youth is Joseph Hathaway, a seventh-grader at Matthew W. Gilbert Middle School.
Like Lucy, he is making the best of his circumstances.
“It’s OK. They’ve got a good program to help me at school,” he said. “They give me an opportunity to check my homework.”
Joseph, 13, has also improved his grades during his stay, increasing his GPA from 1.5 to 2.7. His goal is to keep improving them. He wants to be a teacher when he grows up.
“I like little kids,” he said.
Keeping Sulzbacher youths on track is Maxine Engram, the center’s children’s program manager, who had 35 years experience with Duval County Public Schools.
“Three-fourths of the time, these are my children,” she said. “They strive to please me.”
The key ingredients are love, encouragement and discipline, which the youth continually receive from her and a contingent of volunteers. All their academic achievements are posted on a large bulletin board in the center hallway of the Barnett building. Such recognition boosts their self-esteem.
“They feel safe, they feel love, that people genuinely care,” Engram said.
Craig Linsky is one of those people who care. A volunteer tutor at Sulzbacher youth for 10 years, he strives to be a constant — at least for a time — in the tumult of their lives.
“Who knows what trials and tribulations they have been exposed to,” he said.
Linsky gets excited with the youth he tutors about every minor and major achievement. “I love seeing when something really sticks [during tutoring],” he said. “It is amazing to see their grades posted on the board. ... Now, they actually seem to enjoy what they’re doing in school.”
The average stay at Sulzbacher is 90 days.
But Engram said that because of the level of personal attention the youths receive from her and her team, sometimes children want to come back.
Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109