Hello folks! It’s Coach Scotten here, happy that the NFL season will officially start this weekend, signifying that the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis is definitely on the calendar.

I’m sure you’ve all noticed or somehow been affected by the start of school this week. Buses everywhere; school zone speed limits; school supplies in stores; parents running around to get the routine in place once again. While my own children are long past that stage, I still feel the excitement of the start of school and football season.

This year, I have been thinking more about the children who don’t have a place to sleep at night, or who get the best (or only) meal of the day at the school cafeteria. While a few hundred children sleep in shelters each night, nearly 3,000 children in Marion County schools are “unattached” to a permanent house. They might sleep with aunts or grandparents or friends or in cars or in hotels. How can we expect these children to do homework when they are without a home?

As the start of school gets us all on new schedules, let’s keep these children in mind.