Editor’s Notes: It’s not too early to think about holiday giving
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I know, I know, it's still spooky season. I should hold off on thinking about the holidays for another couple of weeks, at least. And I DO admire the number of gigantic skeletons in people's yards, and the fantastic Halloween-themed light shows and displays. This is one of my favorite times of year.
But a story I ran across this week had me thinking ahead. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, Cincinnati Public Schools is the first school district in the country to open a parking lot where families experiencing homelessness can park their cars at night and sleep safely.
William Taft Elementary School hosts the Safe Sleep Lot, which has seen use by three to eight families per night. District officials came up with the plan because nearly 8% of Cincinnati Public Schools students experienced homelessness during the 2025-26 school year.
When a family is referred to the Safe Sleep Lot, Project Connect does an intake appointment. Once they are accepted, families receive a bag with pillows, towels, blankets, and laundry pods. The kids also get to pick out a stuffed animal. The family gets a parking pass with a code that security scans when they arrive for the night to help keep track of who is staying in the lot.
Being there and working with Project Connect then serves as a bridge to getting onto a wait list for a shelter, or getting a hotel stay (which could last up to two weeks, if the family has CareSource health insurance).
"A lot of times, when you're sleeping in your car, it's because you've exhausted all your social avenues of people you can stay with, and so they're often feeling so isolated and like nobody cares anymore, and they're on their own," Megan Rahill, shelter and housing specialist with Project Connect told the Capital Journal. "If they've already been sleeping in their car, it's just on a dead-end street and it's scary, so we've got a space you can come to where other people and other kids are there, there's food and you don't have to worry about where you're going to the restroom."
It's a fantastic idea, and one that is probably necessary in more school districts.
Homelessness is increasing in Ohio. The most recent data showed approximately 31,883 students do not have a "fixed, regular and adequate place to sleep" during the school year, according to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.
The number of people experiencing homelessness counted in the January 2024 statewide point-in-time survey was a 14% increase over the previous count.
And homelessness doesn't always look like what many of us think. In fact, you might know someone struggling to maintain stability for their kids and keep them in school while not having a home to call their own - and that person might never show what we would think of as signs they need help.
So, what does that have to do with the holidays? Well, it's a bit of a family tradition to learn about growing numbers of children who need support and think about Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can't help it.
And judging by the fact that southern Ohio hosts the first school-district-operated Safe Sleep Lot in the country, it seems as though an increasing number of families in our region are facing the kinds of pressures that are going to force them to choose smaller holiday celebrations this year -- or perhaps none at all.
So, while schools and public officials keep working on giving those families the support and resources they need to lift themselves back up, it really isn't too early for the rest of us to be thinking about what we can do for those kids (and their families) to make the holiday season a little brighter, and remind them they are not alone.
I know lots of us are struggling with personal finances in a way that makes it tempting to leave that kind of giving out this year. But if we start planning early enough, there's probably a way to do a little. And, truly, every gift counts. There is nothing too small.
Set your sights on what you can do for local families once that other season rolls around. And in the meantime, have a not-so-scary Halloween!
Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com.