United Way, Comanche Academy Charter School Bring Extra Care to Community Needs

United Way of Southwest Oklahoma held its Success by Six program at 4:45 p.m. on Thursday, January 5, at Comanche Academy Charter School. The charter school hosts the event every first Thursday of the month.

There were 10 families at the event, with 24 people in attendance. The families were given a gift card, a resource bag and snacks. 

Success by Six Coordinator Roxanne Wiseman had families create family trees at the event.

“And that was really to help…with identity…learning who we are as people, learning who we are as a family unit and then writing down what we are proud of about ourselves, that we’re proud of about our family and doing positive self-talk exercises,” she said.

She said it’s essential to have a sense of identity.

“If we don’t know who we are, what we’re about, then it makes us very impressionable, especially going into school,” Wiseman said. “If you’re not confident in who you are and the identity that you have, it can make you very impressionable and sometimes that leads to not making the best decisions in life. So it’s really important for us to focus in on identity and our family identity.

Wiseman said the program is helpful for families by coming together once a week, every Thursday, with exercises, lessons and sessions from various community outreaches.

“And really, every session is to empower these families and give them the tools that they need to get children school and life ready by age six,” she said.

These outreaches include Marie Detty, Comanche County Health Department, Lawton Public Library and Lawton Public Schools.

“I think these types of events are incredible,” Wiseman said. “I think that they are absolutely, can be life-changing. We meet families where they are. We’re very non-judgemental; our only goal is to help and empower families. Once we break down some of those barriers and… our families become vulnerable…we are seeing the change that is happening and they tell us about the change that is happening. It truly is life-changing.”

She said changes could be seen in families through these events.

“For instance, we have a family that has a three-year-old autistic son who is nonverbal and they just really struggled getting him and getting proper pediatrician care, proper child care and just being parents themselves at times to a nonverbal child,” Wiseman said. “It’s difficult to learn, so…having facilitators come in can help with different communication styles that help behavior modification that can help with ‘how do we talk to our kids in a healthy and trustworthy way?’ essentially. I’ve just really seen it in that specific household, their lives just become something of chaos to it’s really just tamed down. That is a big part…of the facilitators that we do have come in and the lessons that they teach.”

She said they are grateful that the Comanche Academy Charter School has allowed them to utilize their facilities for a host site.

Their next sessions this month are from 4:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. on January 12 at Zoe Christian Center; January 19 at Impact Community Center, and January 26 at Salvation Army Chapel.