Desk project is changing student lives

Stafford said the real heroes of this project are the partners who found families and kids who needed the desks. Thanks to the following organizations:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of The Mississippi Valley
Boys and Girls Club
Davenport Public Schools
DPS Family Involvement Liaison
Family Resources
Hand In Hand QC
Heart of Hope Outreach
Hope at The Brick House
Humility Homes and Services
Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center
One Eighty
Project Renewal
Putnam Museum
Quad Cities Community Foundation
Scott County Family Y
Tapestry Farms
Youth Hope

“I wish you could have seen the expression on his face when I told him he was going to get to bring home his very own desk,” Ann Schwickerath, executive director at Project Renewal, recalled.

“This is just for you,” she told the boy.

“Really?” he said. “My own desk?”

“Yes, your very own desk.”

Hundreds of kids across the Quad Cities are getting a desk of their own to study at thanks to the generosity of Hugh Stafford and John Kessler, and countless other Quad Citizens. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to mean a combination of at-home, hybrid, and in-person learning for area students, the men felt it important for kids to have a place of their own to study.  

“For many of these kids, it may be the only thing they can truly call ‘their own,’” Stafford said, taking a break from making the desks.

Late last year, Stafford called Anne Calder, vice president of development at the Quad Cities Community Foundation, to ask if she might know of kids in the community who might benefit from having a desk. “We were able to connect Hugh to Ann at Project Renewal, Jerry Jones at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, and others. What has happened since is an extraordinary example of how generous our community is.”  

Hundreds of requests have come in, and Stafford and his team continue to make them as fast as they can.

The desks are provided to students free of charge. “If they want a desk, we’re going to find a way to get them one,” Stafford said. “The materials cost about $25 per desk, costs we’ve been able to offset thanks to donations people are making and thanks to support area hardware stores like K&K Hardware and Anchor Lumber have been giving to us.”  

To meet the demand, Habitat for Humanity Quad Cities has teamed up with Stafford to support the building. And a grant of $19,260 from the Quad Cities Disaster Recovery Fund at the Quad Cities Community Foundation has been awarded to Habitat for Humanity to help purchase supplies, organize volunteers, and get the desks delivered.

“When the budget is tight—which it is for so many families right now—an effort like this makes a huge difference on the lives of kids, and their parents,” Schwickerath noted. “There are so, so many kids grateful for their desk, and for Quad Citizens like Hugh.”