My Sweet Introduction to Rainbow Village

As principal of an elementary school, one of the first things you do the first week of school is make sure you know how everybody will get home. 

During this particular school year, I was busy trying to learn routines including daycare pickups, parental pickups and such.  I kept getting reports from the teachers that one little boy kept trying to run off every morning. 

Finally I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands.  I brought my tennis shoes in and kept them ready for when I would need them.  And sure enough, soon I heard that Caleb was on the run again.  I threw on my tennis shoes and took off after him. And boy could he run.  I chased him all the way from B.B. Harris Elementary to Highway 120 before I caught him. 

I asked Caleb where he was going, and he kept crying out that he wanted to go home.  When I asked where home was, he said Rainbow Village.  He was just running to safety. 

That was my first time hearing Rainbow Village and I soon discovered why Caleb loved living there so much.  It was his love of Rainbow Village that let me to become involved, including my current term on the Board of Directors.     

Duluth Mayor Nancy Harris is former principal at B.B. Harris Elementary School. She serves on the Board of Directors of Rainbow Village in Duluth, a transitional housing program for homeless families with children based in Duluth.