Kids in our community don't often have the tools and resources to thrive at school. Did you know that in Wyoming in 2011 37% of kids K-12 qualified for a free or reduced lunch? Can you imagine how this impacts their family's ability to buy expensive school supplies at the beginning of the school year? According to the National Retail Federation the average cost of school supplies for one student is $101.18. This doesn't include clothes, shoes or electronic devices, which if it did... the tab would be closer to $670.00. The median income per family in Uinta County is $49,250 as of the 2000 Census. Our local teachers often have to make up the difference and provide for supplies for their own students that can't bring any from home. With all this in mind, we began our annual school supply drive in 2008. Our goal is to help the kids have the tools and resources they need so that they can focus on what they need to while they are at school learning or even at home with their assignments.
What's the process? We leave collection boxes at our Evanston Walmart where individuals can leave their donations. Walmart usually sets ups the lists by grade level, but any item that is donated is appreciated. Our Official Angel Volunteers collect the boxes periodically and bring them to our sorting place. Our Volunteer Director keeps count of all the types of items we receive. On the day that we pickup the collection boxes for the last time, we also have a huge shopping day for any items that we might be short on. (We may receive a bunch of crayons one year but only about 20 boxes of pencils.) And then the fun begins.
We bring our purchased items back to the sorting place and lay out boxes, two or three per each elementary, middle and high school in Uinta County School Districts #1, 4 and 6. We label each box with the school's name and the sorting happens. Since our amazing Volunteer Director knows how many of each item we have, this is a breeze and we're usually done in about an hour. We usually are done with this process the week before school begins so that if kids don't have what they need, they can talk to someone at the principal's office and start the school year prepared.
What's the process? We leave collection boxes at our Evanston Walmart where individuals can leave their donations. Walmart usually sets ups the lists by grade level, but any item that is donated is appreciated. Our Official Angel Volunteers collect the boxes periodically and bring them to our sorting place. Our Volunteer Director keeps count of all the types of items we receive. On the day that we pickup the collection boxes for the last time, we also have a huge shopping day for any items that we might be short on. (We may receive a bunch of crayons one year but only about 20 boxes of pencils.) And then the fun begins.
We bring our purchased items back to the sorting place and lay out boxes, two or three per each elementary, middle and high school in Uinta County School Districts #1, 4 and 6. We label each box with the school's name and the sorting happens. Since our amazing Volunteer Director knows how many of each item we have, this is a breeze and we're usually done in about an hour. We usually are done with this process the week before school begins so that if kids don't have what they need, they can talk to someone at the principal's office and start the school year prepared.