Hundreds of Kids Enjoy the Gift of School Supplies
SHSM’s Sarita and Essie sort the mountain of donated supplies and put together backpacks for the children.
Wall social service office added to the festivities by serving hot dogs, lemonade and popcorn during the distribution.
Antoinette begins assembling the backpacks. At right, Queen of Peace donations. Their final tally was 115 backpacks and $386 plus lots of supplies!
HFS students make their way back to class with their new supplies.
Imagine a student starting the first day of school with a new backpack filled with quality school supplies like notebooks, crayons, pencils and calculators. They are one step closer to having a successful school year. They walk into the classroom with confidence and are ready to go.
Unfortunately, families living near or below the poverty line often can’t afford school supplies. Parents are asked to not only purchase basic school supplies for their children, but to also provide such classroom supplies as hand sanitizer, paper towels and more. It’s a much bigger burden for poor families, who already struggle just to outfit their children for school.
The bottom line is that sending children back to school is expensive, whether you are relatively affluent or you are straddling the poverty line. For those living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to put food on the table, school supplies are far outside of the budget.
On the Saturday before classes returned to session, we held our annual Backpack Blessings giveaway. This is our annual project that provides school supplies to the disadvantaged of our service area.
Distributions took place in Olive Branch and Walls. Recipients were treated to light refreshments as they were given their new bags. Officer Ashley Holladay greeted clients at the Olive Branch social service office with a hug and words of encouragement for the school year. Lt. Uselton of the Walls Fire Department donated t-shirts for the children. Chick-fil-A of Southaven and Olive Branch made the day a little sweeter with free ice cream coupons for all the students.
Thanks to the generous contributions of the parishioners at Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Olive Branch and Christ the King Catholic Church in Southaven, as well as the Olive Branch Wal-Mart, 126 children in need received brand new backpacks overflowing with school supplies.
A third giveaway was also held this past Thursday in Holly Springs on the first day of class for Holy Family students.
“It is not unusual for our children to come in without all of the things they need for class,” said Principal Clara Isom. “Today, a student arrived with only a pencil and a folder.”
Isom announced the surprise distribution at an assembly just as the first day of school began. After a blessing offered by new HFS religion teacher James King, students were directed to the main hall where each was given a satchel full of educational provisions.
