Jacob Walsh-Emerson, a 10th grade student in Boyne City, earned the Gold Award for an essay he wrote on the Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan (WRCNM). His essay was entered into the 13th Annual Eddie Essay Contest and resulted in a $625 donation to WRCNM by Kiwanis Club of Boyne City, the contest sponsor. Jacob’s essay is reprinted with permission, below. Congratulations, Jacob, and thank you!

Written by Jacob Walsh-Emerson
Boyne City School
Grand Prize Award ~ 10th Grade Eddie Essay Contest
Sponsored by Kiwanis Club of Boyne City

Helping the People

Life can be hard. Different people have different circumstances. Some have all the things they need. Others don’t have that luxury. People can get to this point many different ways. Maybe they had the things they needed then lost them. Maybe they were born without anything. No matter your circumstances or where you are in life, Women’s Resource Center of Northern Michigan (WRCNM) can help. And I’m going to tell you how.

My mother recently decided she wanted to go back to college to receive her degree. But as a single parent, she didn’t necessarily have the income to do so. Thankfully, WRCNM offers tuition assistance for women struggling to pay for the expenses of college. My mother was not the best student when she attended college originally. But since I am more self-sufficient now, and she doesn’t spend all her time taking care of me, my mom wanted to try and redo what she didn’t do so well the first time. She wants to earn a degree in natural resources so she can be a National Park ranger, or something along those lines, when I am out of the house and she retires from her current job. But as you all know, college is expensive. She was lacking in funds to pay for it, so she interviewed with the WRCNM representative at North Central Michigan (NCMC) to see if she was eligible for their scholarship. It turns out she was eligible, so she had to fill out and submit a form, and then from that she was selected from all the other applicants. All she had to do when she got the scholarship was write a thank you note to the WRCNM and acknowledge that they helped her.

But educational aid is not all the Women’s Resource Center does. They offer all kinds of services from help with sexual or domestic abuse, to places for children to play and learn. One such place is the Children’s Learning Center (CLC) which is a preschool option for families to send their children to, with a nationally recognized curriculum. The staff of CLC gets high reviews from both parents and the 2-1/2 to 10-year-old kids they supervise. Women’s Resource Center also offers before and after school programs, along with summer programs, for parents who are apprehensive about leaving their kids unsupervised. These programs allow students to come in on days when school is cancelled and stay active and engaged with all sorts of fun things from getting outdoors to crafts. Or if you are a parent with a newborn child, you can attend a weekly Playgroup, which are offered all throughout Northern Michigan. The kids play with each other while the new parents can learn about early childhood development, age appropriate toys and activities, and approaches to discipline.

But fear not! WRCNM has much more! They also have thrift stores called Gold Mine Resale Shops in Petoskey that offer clothes, household items, books, games, and more. And what’s even better is that all the money Gold Mine Resale Shop makes goes directly to funding other WRCNM services. Services like counseling for people who have gone through abuse of domestic or sexual nature. WRCNM has Master’s licensed therapists to help people who have gone through sexual abuse as a child or an adult, domestic abuse as an adult or child, or elderly abuse. You can get counseling individually or in a group and WRCNM even offers temporary shelter if you just got out of an abusive relationship. Plus, counseling and abuse services are always free. If you happen to be an abuse victim, WRCNM also has a 24-hour crisis and information line and referral services. Women’s Resource Center also has a violence prevention program that addresses the root causes of violence and offers training and workshops to help stop violence when it occurs. There is also a program called Respect is Everything where students are given information about abuse and how to set boundaries in a relationship so they can make good choices in the future. The themes of respect and responsibility are very prevalent here as the students participate in skill building lessons. Coaching Boys Into Men is another similar course for boys only that teaches young men how to respect women.

I believe Women’s Resource Center does good work to help people, which is why I chose to write about them. I believe they make a real difference and could help even more people if they had more money. Say $100 more. I think WRCNM could expand on their programs with a little more money. They could help many more children and people who have gone through terrible horrors that no one should have to suffer. Imagine the joyous looks on children’s faces as they let their imaginations run wild playing with new toys and learning at the Children’s Learning Center. Or the relieved faces of abuse victims as they have a major breakthrough in therapy, tears streaming from their eyes, down their cheeks, and to the floor. Or the faces of people like my mother as they are finally able to achieve their dreams, thanks to WRCNM’s Educational aid.

I hope now you know that WRCNM can help you. No matter your circumstances, you can get help. And I hope you at Kiwanis will help Women’s Resource Center help those people.