Photo by Madoline Markham.
1213 Project Homewood
Zach Isbell catches up with Kalell and Evan Peoples on the playground at Shades Cahaba Elementary. Isbell first started working with them when Kalell was in fourth grade and Evan was in kindergarten.
Zach Isbell is cool.
That’s what the kids at EDP (Extended Day Program) at Shades Cahaba Elementary think. He’s only 21, but he’s built up five years worth of relationships with the students while working for the program.
He has also taken notice of students who aren’t in EDP.
“We get a lot of kids who stay for late pickup, but they just have to sit in the EDP area and not participate in the program and homework help because they can’t pay for it,” he said.
And the need didn’t end there. He has heard anecdotally about kids who go home after school but aren’t supervised when they get there.
“And I know they are not getting any homework help [like we have at EDP],” Isbell said.
With these thoughts in mind, he had the idea to help kids with the cost of EDP in May but didn’t know what that would look like.
A month later, he was filing paperwork for a nonprofit organization, Project Homewood, to fill just that need.
Isbell’s roots in the program run deeper than this five years in EDP and four as a student at Homewood High School.
The same month he got the idea for Project Homewood his aunt Sandra Vella retired as EDP’s founding director. Vella almost began crying when Isbell asked her to be a part of the board of directors.
“She told people that it was the greatest retirement gift anyone could have given her,” said Isbell, a public administration major at Jefferson State Community College.
Isbell further honored the legacy of his aunt by naming the only scholarship Project Homewood currently has after her. The Sandra Vella Scholarship will award Homewood students in kindergarten through fifth grade who cannot afford to attend EDP the funds to participate during the school year and/or summer.
In addition to providing children with a place to stay while their parent(s) work late, EDP offers homework help, a healthy snack, and several activities such as arts and crafts, sports and reading.
During Isbell’s time in EDP at Hall-Kent Elementary School and while working with Shades Cahaba’s EDP, he realized that the program also gives students a jump-start in developing the social skills they might not have developed until middle school.
“Seeing them blossom from being shy and scared to totally being on their own makes everything worth it,” said Isbell. “I love it!”
Isbell hopes to soon raise enough money through Project Homewood to send five to 10 children to the summer program because it is the most expensive. In the future, he also hopes to extend the organization’s reach to other cities.
With the board of directors composed of Homewood alumni, Homewood teachers and Homewood citizens, Project Homewood already reflects differences the organization will make that will directly affect the community.
“When you donate, you’re donating to a cause that you’ll be able to see in your own community,” Isbell said. “And it’s tax deductible.”
To learn more about Project Homewood, visit projecthomewood.org or contact Isbell at 807-3206 or projecthomewood@gmail.com.
