COBB COUNTY, GA — Help is on the way for homeless students and families in the East Cobb community, thanks to a local fundraising effort led by a business owner and a church partnership.

Business owner Lydia Olu-Harding and her husband are partnering with Grace Marietta to sell T-shirts to raise money for students and families experiencing housing insecurity.

Olu-Harding said the goal is to raise up to $10,000, with funds distributed through social workers at schools in East Cobb.

Olu-Harding added that the homelessness among students at Wheeler High School is about 65, with higher numbers when feeder schools are included.

“Expanding out across the entire district, across East Cobb Middle and some of the elementary schools, the numbers get into the mid 100s,” Olu-Harding said.

She said she is working closely with social workers at Wheeler High School and East Cobb Middle School “to identify the families in need and distribute the funds to them.”

According to the Big Frog East Cobb website, the fundraiser has raised about $2,100 of its $10,000 goal.

The website states that each T-shirt purchase helps provide practical care and support for students and families facing housing insecurity.

“Right now in Marietta, 400–500 students are experiencing homelessness or housing instability, while nearly 800 people are living in motels, cars, or doubled-up housing situations,“ the website says. “Thousands more are living one unexpected expense away from losing stable housing altogether. These are not distant statistics—they are our neighbors, classmates, and families in our own community.”