If little kids are hungry, sick or lonely, they'll never be ready for kindergarten. Nobody could argue with a program meant to fix that problem, Family Resource Network organizers thought.
People see 'family resource center' and they automatically think of welfare and poverty.
They weren't sure they wanted that housed in their school. The first family resource center in Putnam County finally found a home in Eleanor, a town built during the Roosevelt administration to house poor people during the Great Depression. Family resource centers started popping up in the Kanawha Valley six years ago, offering one-stop services to poor families. Eight elementary schools in Kanawha, Clay and Boone counties have centers through the Community Council of Kanawha Valley. The idea, Rhodes said, is that families don't have to be destitute to get help.