Needing assistance

Gloria Levario has understood since she was 9 years old.

She’s known that moving from apartments to relatives’ homes and to potentially living in shelters was her family’s lifestyle, and she gripped the reality while her four siblings may not have.

“When I was younger, I wasn’t like every other kid because I knew what was going on in the world,” said Gloria, now a 13-year-old Bowie Junior High student.

She’s lived in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house with 12 other people for about six months — and soon, the household could increase by one when her 24-year-old aunt, Christina Luna, gives birth to another daughter.

OTHERS TOO

Gloria isn’t the only Ector County Independent School District student living in this type of situation — or worse. But there’s help, and Gloria’s family has received some.

According to the school district, families doubled up together are considered homeless.

The state requires criteria, such as economic need and temporary living arrangements, to be met under the federal McKinney-Vento Act before a student is verified as being homeless, Scott Randolph, lead social worker for ECISD’s Student Assistance Services.

Randolph said by those standards, Gloria’s family isn’t homeless.

At the end of the 2006-’07 school year, SAS confirmed more than 150 students as being homeless.

But many others are never verified or they come in for help because they are part of a needy family. And the help SAS gives is based on need, not homelessness, Randolph said.

Even with bilingual posters in school’s main offices listing SAS as a resource, many parents of homeless or needy students don’t seek out the department’s help, Randolph said.

SAS director Wayne Wallace said every ECISD parent receives a residence survey through the mail at the beginning of each school year to determine a student’s living arrangement status.

From there, the district identifies needy or homeless students and counselors visit their homes to discuss help SAS may provide such as school supplies and some clothing.

Also, SAS notifies the families of federal assistance such as signing up for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development apartments or applying for Medicaid and food stamps.

BEVY OF KIDS

Gloria’s mom, Maria Levario, 28, said all her children have Medicaid and she and her sister, Christina Luna, use food stamps to purchase groceries for the family.

Recently at the grocery store, nine of the children were holding hands in a line with Maria Levario and Luna nearby. People asked, “Are all these yours?” or “Are you running a day care?”

“We’re like, ‘Nah, these are all our kids,’ ” Maria Levario said, noting questions about the children are rare.

Gloria and her siblings see their dad, Gilbert Levario, sometimes. He lives in Odessa, isn’t required to pay child support and occasionally sends money to his children and Maria Levario, his ex-common law wife.

“It’s just that he has that problem — he can’t keep a job,” Maria Levario said.

Luna, Maria Levario’s sister, is still married to a man who was deported to Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico, about five years ago. He will sometimes send about $20 a month to her so she may visit him.

SCHOOL AND HOME

Gloria said she tries to keep home and school separate, noting that at home she takes some responsibility in helping her four brothers and sisters with their homework since her mom, Maria Levario, cannot read.

“When I go to school, I’m a teenager,” Gloria said. “I’m not being an adult — protecting.

“I just hang out and do my work,” she said.

As the last words escape her mouth, her 1-year-old cousin, Frank, crawls across the brown carpeted floor. He stops near her feet and sips orange juice from his clear, plastic baby bottle.

Earlier, the child was seen resting his brown-haired head on a twin mattress on the floor as his grandmother, Ninefa Castillo, 52, slept inches away.

Gloria knows she doesn’t have much, noting she’s only got one pair of pants to wear as part of her Bowie uniform.

The teenager can count the number of clothes in her wardrobe — 13 shirts, four pairs of shorts, one pair of pants and four pairs of shoes — much of which was given to her by local churches, charities or SAS.

“My friends have a lot of things, and I just don’t,” Gloria said. “My friends are supportive though.”

Gloria, who plays trombone in the Bowie band, maintains that she’s not embarrassed by her situation. Instead, she keeps quiet and if things develop at home she’ll write poetry and stories or draw to help melt her concerns away.

DAILY ROUTINE

Her days seem almost routine with all 10 children bathing at night and only Maria Levario’s children waking up about 6 a.m. for school at Bowie or San Jacinto Elementary. One of Luna’s daughters attends Dowling Elementary.

On a recent morning, a cell phone alarm rang at 6:01 a.m. inside the dark house near Royalty Park.

Gloria uncoiled from underneath a beige blanket as three of her siblings and her mother lay close to her in the darkness of the room.

They all share a sleeper sofa next to the kitchen while her 12-year-old brother, Gilbert Jr., sleeps on the floor atop the sofa’s three medium-sized square pillows.

As the children darted off toward one of the two bathrooms, Maria Levario fidgeted with her wire glasses, in which the right lens kept popping out.

She said she doesn’t have the insurance to pay for new ones so she has to remedy the problem somehow. She continued to play with the unreliable screw.

In the next room, Gloria wore her blanket like a cape around her shoulders while she waited for the bathroom. She, like her siblings, wishes for their own beds, but there’s no money for that — much less a home of their own.

Gloria’s mom said she tries her best to provide for her children, but since they’ve lived in the house, she hasn’t had to pay the rent. The $350 a month bill is paid for through Castillo’s monthly $623 disability check.

The check also pays for the home’s utilities and the family’s cell phone, which also acts as their home phone.

Recently, Maria Levario, returned to a job at a local fast food restaurant and makes about $6.13 an hour. She uses those checks to pay for some clothes or toys for the children, she said.

She hopes to be able to save money toward rent or the purchase of a house for her family to live in on their own.

But, Maria Levario figures it’ll take about two years to reach that goal. After all, she just recently gained employment again.

As the children neared time to load in the only working car the family has right now — a gray 1997 Jeep Cherokee — Maria Levario’s right lens on her 5-year-old glasses popped out again, and she put pressure on the screw again.

“Mom, when are you getting Medicaid?” Tatyana, 9, asked.

Soon, her mom said. She has to work that out through the Texas Workforce Commission.

“Yeah! I get to get my glasses?” Tatyana asked with excitement in her voice, which caused a flood of the same enthusiasm from other siblings. “I want contacts.”

“Baby, I can’t afford that right now,” Maria Levario said.

And the young girl in braids looked down, absorbing the point.

Despite the hardships, Gloria said she appreciates people who care.

“I’m thankful that we’re still together and that there’s people out there that like to help,” Gloria said.