Kids teaching the retired Logan teacher through local foster program

Host Homes program aligns youth with foster family while parents get help  

The program is called Host Homes. It helps place local children around La Crosse with host families, while their parents are in rehab.

Great for kids, of course, but it turns out, Host Homes isn’t bad for the host either.

“I taught for 35 years at the high school level and I miss that contact with young people,” retired Logan High School teacher Dorina Lukins said. “I needed it back, and this is a way I could, not only help, but I could get in touch again.

“It’s good to have their youth, their vitality. They’re teaching me how the world has changed since I left Logan. It’s just nice to have that life and that vigor in the house.”

The program, which is run through the Family and Children’s Center, received $66,000 in grant money Tuesday.

This is the third year Host Homes has been helping families. The children stay with host families temporarily.

“The point of (Host Homes) was to connect adults, who are caring and supportive, with youth, who are homeless and in need of stable housing in our community,” Family and Children’s Center CEO Tita Yutuc said.

Some of the funding comes from the Michael Stoker Memorial Housing Fund. Stoker was a La Crosse attorney with Johns, Flaherty & Collins, who died in a pedestrian accident several years ago.

“He was a guy who cared a lot about this community, making sure that there was help, especially for those who needed it,” attorney Brent Smith from Johns Flaherty said. “He would have particularly liked what we are doing today.”