OUR MESSAGE TO YOU TODAY IS SIMPLE: If you are currently experiencing, or may soon face, any of these hardships, we encourage you to reach out to us now so that we can explore ways to assist you. You are part of the CRJHS family and we want to help!
Our contact information is below, including our cell numbers. Feel free to text, call, or email us!
Domonick Fields
612-430-2270
domonickfields@cristoreytc.org
Kia Burton
612-244-0244
Emergency Assistance Request Form:
These funds are available for Cristo Rey alumni currently enrolled in a post-secondary certificate, 2-year, 4-year college or university, or advanced degree program. Your request will be reviewed and approved if it meets the requirements.
List of Colleges & Universities Affected by School Closures/Moving to Online Instruction:
https://gist.github.com/jessejanderson/09155afe313914498a32baa477584fae
Make sure to check this page with college links or visit your campus website directly for any updates regarding online classes or returning to campus.
Resources Offered by Businesses During This Time:
U-Haul Storage:
Students need to check with their nearest U-Haul to see what storage space is available in your area.
Can find information on:
College Boxes:
Students can utilize the “Early Move-out Special!” $45 per box includes in-room pickup, storage through Sept 30, and delivery back to campus.
Comcast:
Starting next Monday (March 16), Comcast said it will launch two new features of the Internet Essentials program. First, low-income families who live in a Comcast service area can sign up as new customers to receive 60 days of free Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to all qualified households for $9.95 per month.
To qualify for Comcast’s Internet Essentials service, customers must be eligible for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, or SSI. Applicants can visit internetessentials.com to enroll in the program; they may also call (855) 846-8376 for English or 855-765-6995 for Spanish.
Note: It is important to know that many colleges are still finalizing their own supports for students. For example, some colleges have increased access to on-campus food pantries, some are allowing students to petition to remain on-campus, some are moving to online classes but keeping libraries and other workspaces with Wi-Fi access open. We encourage you to keep checking your college’s website for information of this kind.
Enterprise Car Rental:
COLLEGE STUDENT TRAVEL ASSISTANCE
With colleges and universities announcing campus closures in response to coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns, Enterprise wants to make it easier for students to get home to their families by reducing the age minimum and waiving the young renter fees for rentals through May 31, 2020.
5 Ways to Guard Your Mental Health During the COVID-19 Outbreak (WEB MD)
These are challenging times for our mental and emotional well-being. The stress and uncertainty of the COVID-19 outbreak have been difficult enough, and now the social distancing requirements have led to profound changes in our daily routines. You may be feeling the strain already— It’s hard to find your equilibrium when everything feels upside down.
Every life situation is bringing its own unique challenges during this time. Countless college students are living at home again, separated from their friends and partners. Parents are doing their best to homeschool their kids while working from home themselves. Single people are struggling with the unprecedented social isolation. And all of us are faced with daily uncertainty about how long this crisis will last and where it will take us, individually and collectively.
So many of the routines and activities we took for granted have suddenly fallen away: commuting to work, going to class, hanging out with friends, shopping in stores, going to the gym. Now that our lives have been stripped down, we need to be very intentional about protecting our mental health. Here are five key practices to guard your heart and mind during this crisis.
Mental health starts with physical wellness. A growing body of research supports our intuitive understanding that the mind and the body are intimately connected. The following areas are especially important:
Few things are more challenging for your well-being than a lack of daily structure. Your body and brain operate on a 24-hour (circadian) cycle, and need specific activities to happen at predictable times. There’s a perfect German word for activities that provide timed structure to our days—Zeitgeber; the direct translation is “time giver.” Establishing a consistent routine is one of the friendliest things you can do for yourself during this period of social distancing. Incorporate as many of the following Zeitgebers as you can:
Your thoughts can be a powerful ally or a formidable foe, now more than ever. Practice training your mind in helpful directions that support your well-being:
You don’t have to believe everything your thoughts tell you. Know that they’re fantasies that may or may not come true—and that other outcomes may be more likely.
Stress and tension collect in the body and mind throughout the day. Set aside time religiously to release this nervous energy. Step out of the modes of doing and producing and checking the news, and into a state of being. The following principles and practices can help.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, exercise your truest nature as a being of love. It’s easy to neglect our relationships or to frankly find them irritating, especially with the people closest to us that we see every day. But nothing is more important for your well-being than these relationships. Invest time and energy in the people who will be with you no matter what.
We don’t know exactly how long this social distancing directive – or the virus, itself – will last, so it’s wise to go ahead and start putting emotional wellness practices in place now, on the front end of this journey. You can begin by choosing just one to focus on, and then adding others in the following days. Your future grateful self will thank you.
More than anything else, grant yourself some grace. This is a difficult and stressful time as you adapt to a completely new situation. There's no need to aim for perfection in how you manage your mental health—you're going to feel anxious and off balance at times as you find your equilibrium, and lose it, and then find it again. You're doing the best you can, and that's enough.
Some of these practices are adapted from The CBT Deck and the forthcoming sequel for anxiety. If you'd like more easy daily practices to help manage anxiety, my e-guide “10 Ways to Manage Stress and Anxiety Every Day” is available for free when you sign up for my newsletter.