Gill Student Gives Back at Starfish Family Services

Nine-year-old Farmington Hills resident Kija Armstrong looked around the Early Headstart classroom at Inkster-based Starfish Family Services Friday morning. It brought back some memories for the student.

"The first thing I remember is the slide, and dancing. Piles of books," she said. "I like to come back here, because I still like the stuff they got."

She also enjoys playing with the toddlers who are in the same spot she was seven years ago. Kija's mother, Jarene Armstrong, was a college freshman when she reached out to Starfish for help. Her sister had worked for the agency, which provides early childhood development and parenting programs, children’s mental health services, after school programs, and an emergency shelter for teens and youth in crisis.

The goal at Starfish is prevention; programs and services help families in difficult circumstances. And Jarene Armstrong faced great difficulties as a teen mother.

After she had Kija in 2001, she went to work to support herself and her new daughter.

"When she first started, I wasn't in school," Jarene Armstrong recalled. "While I worked, she was here, and even on days I didn't work ... I was one of those parents who lingered around."

Her parents, she said, did not believe she could go back to college. But the staff at Starfish provided the knowledge and encouragement she needed to achieve her goals. She now holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and statistics, which she received from the University of Michigan in 2006.

"I think it was just the confidence, the support," she said. "Being a teen parent, you lose a little bit of yourself."

Jarene Armstrong was driving daily from her home in Taylor to Ann Arbor to Inkster, where Kija was cared for from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. She remembers days when she would literally run out of gas in the Starfish parking lot.

Knowing that Kija was well cared for eased some of her stress, she said.

Mother and daughter became very close to Early Headstart teacher Mary Craig, of Northville. "She was a very big part of our lives, even outside the classroom," Jarene Armstrong said.

Craig remembers Kija very well. "She was in my very first class. The program was just beginning, and it was a place I thought I could make a contribution."

On Friday, Craig sat with her current charges, while Kija read aloud from several story books. Kija also danced with the little ones and joined them as they played on the slide and other equipment.

Kija and her mother also brought bags of clothing and books. Previous donations have included diapers, food, jackets and gas cards. Her commitment to the agency extends to connecting them with her current employer, Market Strategies of Livonia. Employees now conduct donation drives for the agency.

Even though she and Kija don't have a lot, she said, many others are less fortunate.

It's also important for Kija to realize that, Jarene Armstrong said. "That's always been am important part of her education to me is giving back."

The lesson seems to be sinking in. "I like being helpful and nice," said Kija, who also enjoys reading and drawing and hopes to someday be a librarian. "And I like to work with kids."