DHR School Supply Drive - A Success!
On behalf of all the children
and the families that were assisted with the school supply
project this year. I express our sincere appreciation. Your
donations allowed us to do 1066 bags of supplies assisting 1066
children in 562 families. We were also able to share some of the
supplies for tutoring bags with the RSVP program volunteers who
serve many of our children.
Your responses to our request
for donations were very generous this year and made it possible
for so many to be assisted. The parents were very appreciative
and it brought joy to your heart to see how excited the children
were when they looked in their bags to see a book bag and the
other items that we were able to furnish. It is so important
that these children be able to go to school the first day with
supplies just like the children of families who are able to
afford the required items. The majority of our families in our
Food Stamp caseloads work but work at lower paying jobs. When
they have several children it is a major hardship financially
since they never seem to be able to get “caught up”. This year’s
program was characterized with the majority of the families only
having 1-3 children in the home.
We learned a great deal last
year and were able to make some changes in the process. Then
volunteers who helped with putting information in the computer,
copying supply lists, collating supply lists and referrals,
sorting supplies and the volunteers who came early and stayed
late to put the bags together on the distribution days were
exceptional. They worked so hard as a team and insured that most
parents had the supplies in hand with less than a 10 minute
wait. On Monday the air conditioning was out for almost 4 hours
and while it dampened spirits a little it did not slow down the
work. Hats Off to these Volunteers!!
Thanks also to those of you
who publicized this for us and to those businesses that worked
so closely with us on this project---Wal Mart, AthensPlus.com,
Tour Athens, Kids to Love, and Publix. We did so well that we
are planning a one-day event next year.
Thanks again so much for your
generosity and your support for these programs. You can be
assured that your donation made a difference in the life of a
child!
Respectfully,
Jennifer C. White
Community Resource Specialist
Senior Service Supervisor
Limestone County
Department of Human Resources
1007 W. Market Street - P.O. Box 830
Athens, Alabama 35612
Phone: 256.216.6380 – Director Caroline J. Page
