School Supply Bank

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
That is how bad it is here.

A local good sized church saw the need...........I'm guessing saw the same thing easy child and I saw while shopping for supplies, which is that basically no one else was shopping for supplies..........and decided to try to fill it.

Currently they're accepting school supply donations from anyone able to give. They're also accepting decent used clothing items suited for school clothes to offer for free as well. This seems to have started within their church and has now. due to need, branched out county wide.

Aug 8th at our Fair Grounds there will be a "School Supply Sale" Everything free for those in need. I'm taking katie. I bought the grandkids their school supplies, but they still need clothes.

And today I'm putting exactly what they need for each grade into their book bags and I think I'm donating the rest of what I won't use to this "sale". I won't give katie the extras because for once in her life she needs to start buying the things her kids need. I'm not keeping them in school supplies all year. IF she attempts to pick up more school supplies there she's gonna get a major Momma slap down. I'm taking her there for clothes, not supplies. There are more kids in need than just hers.

I'm not a particular fan of this church. It normally gives me the "cult" creepy crawlies. But I have to give credit where credit is due, no other church has stepped up tp the plate and attempted to help with the problem and this one has. I see it doing things like this often. It has another of these at xmas time. It's a great idea in an area of really super high unemployment rate which is still rising.

I would've never dreamed to even have looked for such a thing. So if you're an area hit hard as well, you might want to ask around and see if a church or another organization is doing something similar.
 

Mattsmom277

Active Member
What a wonderful thing for these people to do for the community. I hope you and Katie can find some nice clothes for the kids, and passing along spare supplies you have on hand is a nice way to give something back.

We have a program here, I think it's called Smile Packs (not quite sure but something along that line). I was reading about it in the paper the other day actually and have heard of it other years. Local businesses donate money as well as private donations. Then volunteers go shopping with the money raised to do back packs for each child individually. Each child gets the color back pack they like, indoor school shoes, a pair of pants and a shirt, socks and underwear, along with basics like pencil case, colored pencils, markers, pens, highlighters, paper, binders and Im not sure what all else. The paper said each bag is valued about $130. Not sure which agency but the newspaper said a local social service agency gives the names and sizes etc for children in need, and they don't inform the families until the bag is ready to go that they've been put on the list. We were not in a position to do anything for good causes for some years now, in fact you might remember our christmas basket that was brought unknown to us 2 years back, chalk full of the kids wish list, complete turkey dinner etc. I will NEVER forget the way that i felt touched by that. I really like this back pack program and hopefully this time next year S/O and I can help with donations or fund a complete back pack.

Something tells me more and more families are going to benefit from these type of kindnesses. More families than ever I can remember are in such huge need. Struggle seems to be a key theme with so many now, ourselves included. We are looking forward to a upswing in our income now but it sure has been a long and rough road.
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
The Boys & Girls Club teamed up with Walmart in our area last year for school supply donations; I hope they do it again this year.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
The thought of school supplies makes me shudder. Our schools always want brand-name: Texas Instruments, Sharpie, Crayola, Expo, Fiskars.

NOT HAPPENING.

I should be able to get by reasonably inexpensively, but... Wow.

I feel for the people who cannot afford supplies. The schools throw a FIT if we don't send in all the stuff. We had - 2 years ago - a $10 charge on the school account because Jett didn't want to carry in 2 reams of printer paper. YEAH, THAT got shot down. Sorry, a CASE of paper is NOT $50 unless you are really wasting money.
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I used to battle with the schools over supplies too. Irks me no end.

Huge issue with me was buying for the entire classroom. Nope. Not doing it. If my kid has a cold, I'll send tissues. I'm NOT supplying tissues for the entire class. Nor am I buying paper towels and the like. That is what I pay taxes for, and trust me our school tax is not cheap by a long shot. No, I don't think it's fair for teachers to do without supplies for the classroom, but we already pay in.....at some point school officials need to start making that money go where it's supposed to go.

I saw the same thing on the grands school lists this year. Tell me what on earth a kindergardener is going to do with 2 pencil boxes?? Oh, sorry one is a clear pouch (has to be clear) to go into his BINDER. He's in kindergarden people, wth is he going to use a binder for? Kayla with the zippered binder. (found her a really super nice binder with velcro at a yard sale for a dime, that will have to do) Ok, I'm guessing it's so her papers don't fall out, but there are other binders out there that don't zip that work just as well and don't cost an arm and a leg.

And of course supplies have to be certain name brands. I told katie if she hears from teachers to tell them if they want something specific bad enough that they can buy it. I swear I did that every year. Poor people and people who are unemployed just can't go out and buy the expensive items on the lists, they have to look for sales. ugh

Teachers didn't care for my "attitude" but strangely enough my kids were allowed to use their supplies with no further comments about them.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
The teachers don't come up with the lists here. And they can't afford it either.

The schools decided that EVERYONE has to have the same brands so there is no "better-than-so-and-so". Well... Except... That happens ANYWAY.

I'll make a run to Big Lots... I forgot all about it Friday like I promised!!!
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
We had a very abbreviated list this year because Duckie's class is looping. Her teacher was very careful about not wasting supplies so she still has things like filler paper, notebooks & folders from last year. And she stated that kids could use last year's supplies if they are in good working order (scissors, binder, etc). The crucial part of the list was pencils & markers.... so I don't mind sending in tissues for the class (even though they weren't requested).
 

flutterby

Fly away!
Our local movie theater (about 100 years old) holds kids movies one day a week in the summer - typically re-runs of movies. The cost of admission is food for the food pantry. In August, they change the admission to school supplies.
 

Mattsmom277

Active Member
If schools want to nit pick supply brands, here's a novel idea! Set it up !! The schools I mean. Why don't they buy the supplies in bulk from somewhere willing to sell at a good price due to volume. Make a kit for the kids and charge at the start of school. Otherwise, they need to get realistic about the lower budgets in families these days and realize that it is a huge expense to kit a child out for a new school year. New clothes, shoes (here we need indoor and outdoor shoes), back pack, lunch kit, all of the supplies, school agenda ($12, crazy!), lock for locker. And those with more than 1 to prepare for the year pull their hair out!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have to get out and attempt to send some stuff for the grands. I dont mind sending in a few boxes of tissues a couple of times a year but what is Keyana going to do with a binder? She cant write well yet. Shouldnt she have those kindergarten pads of paper? I can hardly find them anymore. You know the ones I am talking about...the are long width ways with the lines for writing capital letters and lower case letters. I am astounded they dont still use those. I will probably find some anyway and send some just in case she has to have them. I am also sending her larger crayons instead of the thin ones because she breaks the thin ones. Sorry...she does so they will have to get over it. I will send the thinner ones for Cameron.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Good luck finding those pads, Janet - we looked all over for them, for Jett, a few years back. Even in kindergarten now they want wide ruled.

We live in a college town, so wide ruled is HARD to find...
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
MattsMom, one thing our school does do right is just like you said - they have put together a "kit" that you pre-order at the end of the school year that will contain everything the kiddo needs for the following year in a box, and the items are then bought in bulk from an office supply store. Then parents involved in the PTA sort the stuff into boxes for the kids. We did it last year, and it was great. I did not do it this year, because since Wee is not mainstream, he doesn't need most of that stuff. But it is a great idea.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
We have that too - the kits are $40, and I can buy all the stuff in them for about $20. You still have to add in paper towels, ziploc bags, kleenex, backpacks... They aren't in the kits.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
I think ours was $30 last year and did contain everything. You even got to pick a backpack from about 12 different styles. It wasn't crazy-cheap, but to spend a reasonable amount of money and NOT have to go running around town to buy stuff was well worth it.
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Yeah, I avoid Walmart like the plague. And I avoid Walmart with Wee like an erupting volcano AND the plague...

(did I mention I hate Walmart?)
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Our teachers don't make the lists. Seems the school board or some such does. Teachers tend to complain as much as we parents do. Well most of them anyway. Some thing that doing something other than what the school board says to do is like committing a crime or something. Those are the teachers I have issues with. Even in the best economy this area is poor.

Step, no need to run out to Odd Lots, though, thank you. This binder is really nice and will do the job just fine. Actually probably better as with the zippers papers tend to get caught in them and the zippers either stick or break. (I hate the things) If katie wants to get all up in arms about it, she gets paid the first and she can buy her one. I'm just not worrying too much about it. I covered the basics.

Nichole did say that often teachers ask for donations of used supplies in good condition from students to give to kids the next year who may have trouble getting the right supplies. I think this is also a good idea. Around here you don't always use the same supplies year to year and often they aren't worn out after a single year of use.

IF teachers asked for donation of certain things like paper towels, tissues whatever.......I always gave what I could. It's that whole you have to supply the classroom that gets under my skin.
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
I just found our list:

2 2" 3-ring binders, 2 sets dividers, 2 2-pocket folders WITH prongs, loose leaf paper, composition notebook, blue ink pens, black ink pens, red ink pens, YELLOW highlighters, #2 pencils, 2 LARGE boxes tissues, 3 pkgs index cards no lines, 1 pkg post-it notes, pencil bag, Crayola pencils, 1 ream WHITE computer paper, Texas Instruments 30XIIS calculator, USB flash drive, and they would APPRECIATE Clorox wipes and Purel or Germ-X hand sanitizer.

Most of that? OK, reasonable. Post its? And, duh, WHITE paper. A pencil bag? HAHAHAHAHA J kills his in the first week, I need Kevlar. And what's wrong with Kroger brand hand sanitizer? Puh-leeze.
 

KTMom91

Well-Known Member
After reading this, I'm (once again) really proud of my district. If the kids can't afford the backpack, supplies, etc., the school will provide it at the beginning of the year. Several of our Title 1 schools have people who work with the school and the community to make sure the kids have what they need, they have corporate sponsors and also help the families if they need food, clothes, help with electricity...

Our church also has a backpack, school supply, and shoe drive every August.
 
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