Craig Stluka wants you to learn a little-known fact about the Leander Independent School District.
LISD began the 2009-10 school year with more than 200 students categorized, according to federal law, as homeless.
Currently, there are 169 students listed as homeless: 134 families as doubled up, or living with other families, 29 unaccompanied youths, four living in hotel/motels and two in shelters, according to Shelia Kelle, LISD homeless liaison assistant.
These students don’t look like the classic homeless person.
“Typically you think of the homeless living under a bridge in Austin,” Stluka said. “People’s mouths drop open when you tell them there are homeless in Cedar Park and Leander.”
Those homeless students include those whose families that are living with other families or students who are sofa surfing with friends, but who have no regular night-time address, LISD homeless liaison Linda Sekula said.
Stluka has two goals: raise community action and support.

His organization, Project Life Change, raised $1,500 Sunday. Project Life Change will use the money to buy supplies for the students during the summer, and any money left over will be spent to buy school supplies for the coming year.
“He’s helped us tremendously with school supplies,” Sekula said of Stluka’s efforts. “It became his personal mission.”
Besides donating school supplies, he has helped pay for field trips, graduation supplies, personal hygiene items and food to take home over the weekend.
His motivation to begin helping the homeless, he said, came from the Bible passage of Matthew 25.
Then, a friend told him about homelessness in the district.
“When he came to me, he was incredulous that there were homeless students,” Sekula said.
Sekula educated Stluka on how the district provides services for their homeless students.
The McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act (part of the No Child Left Behind federal legislation) ensures educational rights and protection for children and youth experiencing homelessness. LISD provides free meals for the students, school supplies, personal hygiene items and transportation to their school of origin.
Since Cedar Park and Leander do not have homeless shelters, finding a place to stay can mean a family must move out of town. If a child (with their family) finds housing in another city but has been attending a LISD school, the school district provides transportation back to the school he or she was attending.
“The more the child moves around, the greater risk they have of not doing well in school,” Sekula said. “I look at what can I do so that these kids can go to school tomorrow, so they can stay in school. School is the best place for these kids.”
A student’s homeless identification remains in place for the school year. Each new school year, their status must be reassessed, Sekula said.
When he realized the need was larger than school supplies, Stluka asked her, “What is your biggest need?”
“I can’t give them a place to stay,” Sekula said.
That’s when the idea took shape to build a shelter for these students either in Cedar Park or Leander.
Stluka said he considered buying an existing home, but believes a dorm-style home would better fit the fluctuating needs of the population segment.
“We’ll work with the federal acts that provides money and has specific timelines for stays; we’ll work within those guidelines. As far as staffing it, it all depends on size of building, and the number of people we would have,” he said.
It’s a big idea for a small organization. Project Life Change is basically Stluka, plus volunteers.
“I’m trying to ease into the community,” he said.
As Sekula and Stluka work to help these students, they agree on one thing.
“We do have a caring community, it’s just a matter of getting them in touch with them,” Sekula said.
“Craig’s group is very small,” Sekula said, “They just don’t have a bank account with thousands of dollars, they have to go out and the raise the money. He’s good at that. He doesn’t have land, doesn’t have facilities, but he’s out there shaking the trees.”
For more information, visit www.projectlifechange.com