ST. LUCIE COUNTY — It’s a startling count.
In St. Lucie County’s school system, 2,772 children are registered as homeless. They sit in classrooms by day, often indistinguishable from their peers, then return at night to hotel rooms, relatives’ couches, cars, or even campsites. They carry backpacks filled with homework, but no assurance of where they’ll sleep tomorrow.
That number haunted me as I sat down to talk to Chrystal Netherton, CEO of GraceWay Village on Hartman Road in Fort Pierce. GraceWay is about something bigger: restoring families and building a future where children don’t grow up believing instability is inevitable…