Providing essential services for the community, OneHeart celebrates 2nd anniversary

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - This week, OneHeart in downtown Rapid City is celebrating its two-year anniversary.

The idea for OneHeart started in 2019 and 4 years later they opened their doors.

“OneHeart is what we call a transformation campus and what that means is that we create a college-like campus environment with the objective of rebuilding their lives out of the crisis of poverty,” said Charity Doyle, executive director for OneHeart.

Anita Deranleau, a coordinator with the McKinney-Vento program, helps students who don’t have permanent housing find access to school.

“We develop plans, so they have the ability to get to school or if we need to provide transportation as a school district, we provide that,” said Deranleau. “Birth certificates, immunization records we get those later.”

Creating a safe and supportive environment for the families of these students is an important aspect.

According to Doyle, OneHeart helps families to thrive and make a better future for themselves.

“I just think it’s really important when you’re thinking in the context of working with the school district, the stability that the one heart campus provides families has helped actually reunite 23 families with their children,” continued Doyle.

“I really feel that any child who walks through the one heart door has received a little piece of mind that they will remember and always reflect on and think ‘okay that’s the way life can be’,” said Deranleau.

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