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Caity McCardell

6/20/20 Bring on the Tissues!

Updated: Jul 23, 2020

A couple of great stories of how you've made a difference...


Today we are focusing on Lopez High School Wolf Den and Lopez High School.





Here's a little background on how the Wolf Den got started.


We have been supporting Lopez High School since April 2018.  In April 2018, three Womenaders (Heidi Boatman, Jann Jeffries and Kris Stump) became aware of Lopez High School, a continuation high school) located on Highway 1 In Arroyo Grande on the Nipomo Mesa while filling backpacks for the backpack program at Mesa Middle School.  The backpack program now renamed the Nutrition Team, started supplying backpacks weekly for Lopez High School in early 2018.


Lopez High School has 225 students ages 16 through 25, and 8 teachers plus a children's nursery that supports 36 babies/toddlers. Many of these students live on their own and are self-supporting; some are homeless and many have a very troubled home life. Some of the students have babies or toddlers. There is no PTA and almost no parent support. Lopez High welcomes these students, nurtures, guides them and gives them a chance to create a productive future.


The staff at Lopez is made up of long time dedicated amazing, loving, supportive people. The success stories of the students graduating from Lopez are above incredible. After working with the amazing staff at Lopez they fell in love with the school and its positive nurturing attitude to the students and decided that they wanted to support their efforts to help the students help themselves.


They met with the staff at Lopez, the principal, Jennifer and the two counselors, Bernie and Leona, to see if our idea was something that they were interested  in. The answer was a resounding yes. After more meetings  the team decided that the best way to help Lopez High School was to create a project  where students can get free clothing, baby/toddler clothes and diapers along with life’s essentials; toiletries, laundry detergent.  They enlisted help from spouses, friends and the school district. They spread the word, engaged in raising funds, secured a building to use as a closet. Over the summer they named the project the Wolf Den (the school mascot is the wolf) and completed the construction, design and decoration of the Wolf Den.


Your donations made a difference!  Here are two wonderful stories from the Wolf Den of how you've helped.


Baby Needs:


Two students in the HOPE Program, which stands for Hands on Parenting Education Program, were both pregnant. and they were living with their boyfriends at the girls’ parents’ home. All four of these young people were full time students, and the young men also worked full-time to support their family. Fortunately both set of parents were supportive, but required that the students paid rent and paid their own bills. Neither of the families had cribs for the coming babies and Womenade had two people offer cribs for free. Jann and Heidi checked out the cribs and were amazed how very nice they were. We contacted the two families, and they, with their parents, picked up the cribs and were extremely grateful.  They even sent us thank you notes. Also, thanks to Womenade donations we were able to make up new baby Care Packages that included several outfits and hand knitted beautiful baby blankets!!


A Young Man in Need:


A junior student at Lopez High School had a very undesirable, rough home situation. He was a very good student and rode his skate board from Oceano to school every day. He never

complained or asked for anything. One day it was noticed that his shoes were falling apart, and he needed clothes and a jacket. Thanks to the support from Womenade we purchased new Vans shoes, a jacket and clothes from Costco. He was so overwhelmed that he hugged us; he couldn’t thank us enough and said these words: “I am nobody now, but I will be somebody one day, and I will pay you back, and you will be proud of me.” Of course we told him that we were all very proud of him for making it to school every day under such tough circumstances. Jann and Heidi spoke with his Counselor asking her if the student could use a bicycle, and she said absolutely. We put out the word, and a Womenade supporter gave him a very nice bike which we passed on to Lopez. The young man was beside himself and wrote us a very touching beautiful thank you card.


South SLO County Womenade provided funds to provide every graduate with a Class of 2020 lawn sign and items for gift bags and Lopez High School (LHS) swag! Jennifer Bowen, The Principal at LHS, also shared the Tribune's story of the LHS Graduation.




Lopez High School Tribune story of the Lopez High School Graduation


63 seniors take the wheel in Lopez High School Class of 2020 graduation ceremony

On Wednesday, June 3, the school celebrated the achievements of its 63 graduating seniors with a sunny drive-through ceremony at its campus. Graduates bedecked in the school’s maroon robes waltzed across a stage set up in front of the stage while their families watched from cars.  Family members hung out of car windows smiling and taking pictures of their students while a line of mask-wearing teachers and staff waved signs behind them.

This has been an unusual year for almost all graduates across the country — including those at Lopez High School in Arroyo Grande. With coronavirus erasing all the usual hallmarks of a high school experience, and removing students from their campus and friends, the Class of 2020 has seen unprecedented times.  But that didn’t stop the continuation high school’s graduating class from having a rolling good commencement ceremony.

The graduates themselves were all smiles as they grabbed their diplomas and walked down the path, ready to enter the next phase of their lives.


Lopez High School Class of 2020 achievements

  • Lopez High School’s Class of 2020 celebrated a range of achievements on Wednesday after a particularly unusual year for many of the students.

  • Emilie Younger was this year’s valedictorian with a 3.89 GPA. Delany Merino Aguilar was salutatorian with a 3.34 GPA.

  • Thirty-two of the graduates will be attending either Allan Hancock College or Cuesta College this fall, and two are joining the military.

  • Read more here: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/rebuild/graduations/article243238466.html#storylink=cpy

  • Lopez High grads from the Class of 2020 received more than $19,000 worth of scholarships. Nine students received some kind of financial award.

Principal Jennifer Bowen said this class in particular has shown many of the qualities of exemplary Lopez High School students. “Being a student at Lopez High School requires GRIT,” she told The Tribune. (GRIT is the school’s student pledge, standing for Goals, Responsibility, Independence and Team.) “The LHS Class of 2020 has shown their true GRIT by meeting their goals, being responsible during this unique and difficult year, showing perseverance by finishing their senior year independently and at the same time working and supporting their families and community by being part of the team and #InThisTogether,” she added. “We are so very proud of your resilience and accomplishments, Class of 2020. We will miss you. Please stay in touch so we know what great things you are up to in the future!“


Merchandise for fundraising


We have created a couple of items to help with fundraising.  T-Shirts $20 and Tote bags $15.   We are not mailing items. 




They can be ordered by emailing Jill Ostrove at Jillian.Ostrove@gmail.com.

  • size T-shirt (M, L, XL) and # of T-shirts

  • Totes – Number

  • Pick-up or drop off (5 cities area)

  • How you want to pay: check or paypal

To make a donation write a check to South SLO County Womenade and mail to: South SLO County Womenade, 1793 Farroll Rd., Grover Beach, CA 93433 or go to our website sslocw.org or paypal.me/sslocwomenade.


Our website is: sslocw.org

Our EIN# is:27-0809744

Phone number: (805) 270-5751

Copyright © 2020 South SLO County Womenade, All rights reserved.

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