Education
BY ANGELA BONILLA & JULIANNA WASHBURN
Montgomery ISD opened its resource center for district sta and students in November 2024.
COURTESY MONTGOMERY ISD
Willis ISD’s resource center, named the Wildkat Resource Center, opened during the 2020 21 school year.
The Wildkat Resource Center sees around 80 visits per month for clothing assistance and around 300 visits per month for food assistance.
COURTESY WILLIS ISD
COURTESY WILLIS ISD
MISD, WISD resource centers supporting families
Montgomery ISD opened its resource center to supply students and families with necessities in November 2024. One year later, MISD o cials said they’ve helped about 350 families. The center was made possible after MISD partnered with the Montgomery County Food Bank, the Montgomery County Community Foundation and the American Heart Association, per prior reporting. Meanwhile, Willis ISD also has a resource center, named the Wildkat Resource Center, which is located in what was once the rst Willis High School. The center opened during the 2020-2021 school year to serve students and sta , and is led by Michelle Bischo . As part of the Wildkat Resource Center, the Kat’s Closet provides shoes, underwear, socks, coats, school supplies, clothing and personal hygiene items for district families. More details MISD’s Director of Community Service Courtney Dyer said the resource center, which is set up like a store, has basic food items, refrigerated and frozen food items, shelf items, along with some basic hygiene cleaning products and school supplies. The center at MISD is open to come in and shop for free once a month by appointment for any sta member or any family who has a student or students who are currently enrolled in the district. WISD’s center sees around 80 visits per month for clothing assistance and around 300 visits per month for food assistance, Bischo said. There
are also around 1,200 visits for school supply and backpack assistance each year and around 1,000 visits for Christmas assistance each year. “We’re always looking for wish-granters. We’re always looking for toy donations, new socks, new underwear, new shoes for our families that are in need,” Bischo said. The impact 60% of Willis ISD students are economically disadvantaged, while 28% of MISD students are economically disadvantaged, according to data from the Texas Education Agency based on the 2024-25 school year. “We will serve mostly our economically disadvantaged population, which varies from year to year, but it ranges around 60% of our popula- tion of almost 10,000 kids served on the free and reduced lunch list,” Bischo said. Quotes of note “If they’re able to save a little bit on groceries, they can put that extra money toward gas ... or maybe to even put toward a bill to keep the utili- ties on.” —Courtney Dyer, director of community service, Montgomery ISD “A lot of families don’t know about us, so we’re working really hard to kind of get the word out to our families about what it is we do.” —Michelle Bis- cho , Wildkat Resource Center director, Willis ISD
MISD’s resource center is open once a month by appointment.
COURTESY MONTGOMERY ISD
Willis ISD resource center
ROGERS RD.
45
N. CAMPBELL ST.
75
N
204 W. Rogers Rd., Willis www.willisisd.org/students-families/ wildkat-resource-center
CLEPPER DR.
Montgomery ISD resource center
105
N
20774 Eva St., Montgomery www.bit.ly/3C3BJ86
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CONROE MONTGOMERY EDITION
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