St. Joseph County initiative addresses basic health issues keeping kids out of class
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As part of the Health First Indiana initiative (HFI), the St. Joseph County Department of Health launched the Community Partnership Program to raise awareness about the most common problems students are facing that systemically ate into their class time, inviting donations from community members to help address them.
Before deciding on what to focus on in her role as School Health Liaison with the county, Ashley Helman visited most of the county’s K-12 schools to speak with nurses, health aides and office staff to find out their greatest areas of need.
“We went in there with big ideas to work on these chronic health issues but we wanted to check with people first and it’s a good thing we did,” said Helman, who also serves as director of nursing for the county’s department of health. “Nurses, health aides, office staff, people who don’t make a lot of money, honestly, were buying supplies out of their own funds because they couldn’t stand to see children missing out on their instructional time because of something so small as a pair of pants.”
Helman speaks about the origins of this project and how the community collaboration evolved.
Launched last August, the program receives general hygiene products, snacks for diabetic kids, clothing, and feminine hygiene products to address period poverty.
With many of the schools missing basic supplies, kids miss up to four hours of instructional time waiting on menstrual supplies or a pair of underwear from home. These occurrences also came at a cost to parents who had to leave work to bring these items to school.
“People in our community heard that we were working with schools and that there was a need and they wanted to know where to plug in,” Helman added. “We started our Community Partnership Program to connect the people and their support with the places where it was most needed.”
Donations started rolling in almost immediately, even attracting a $50,000 donation from the Barbara and John Phair Foundation to provide each school in the county with at least $500 to buy items that were rarely donated.
“Every donation is appreciated and useful, but sometimes we see less donations of more expensive items. It’s harder for somebody to buy 10 pairs of pants at $30 each than it is to buy 10 packs of feminine products,” Helman said. “We know $500 doesn’t go very far, but the schools have been so excited to be able to utilize that as well.”

One of 15 programs that the HFI oversees, the school health liaison works to support school health staff and administration to ensure a healthy school environment by developing programming that is meaningful to the students, families and school staff within their community.
Created by the 2023 Indiana General Assembly to transform public health outcomes in the state, the HFI divided an initial $75 million among the 86 counties that opted in for 2024. For 2025, all 96 counties opted in to get a share of the allocated $150 million. Lawmakers will vote during the current session on whether or not to keep funding the program in 2026.
“The funding is fantastic, but it is the support of the people that the state has also provided that’s made such a huge difference. If you have a question, you get a response right away and they’re really supportive,” Helman said. “They have ideas, but they want to know what your ideas are, and then they get excited about those. They dream with you and they help you think about execution. So it’s not just the funding.”
With the program still in its early days, Helman said the schools are tracking how much instructional hours are being saved by having these items on hand at the time of need. Helman hopes to secure even more community buy-in with the data.
“We’ll be able to take that back to people just like the Phairs, philanthropic people in our area who really want to see kids learning, so that we’ll be able to continue receiving support and maybe increase that over time,” she added. “Over time, things may change. But in the meantime, we will continue to evaluate what is needed.”
Now, Helman said schools get excited when they get a visit from the health department, when previously they may not have been met with the same reception. And the resupply rate is just one more indication for how much impact the program is having.
“I have never visited a school where they said, ‘We are perfect; we don’t need anything.’ Every school has a need and that’s why we want to make sure that every school has the availability,” Helman said. “Public school, private school, charter schools, everybody is welcome to be a part of the funding and the support. If there is a school that is needing something and hearing about this for the first time, we want them to connect with us because we have resources to help.”
The county has set up wishlists for the different donation categories and welcomes anyone who wants to donate to go through that route. Community members can also buy the requested items and drop it off at the county-city building at 227 West Jefferson Blvd.