Charities collecting school supplies
Staff writer
Hillsboro middle and high school students will benefit from a school supply drive Aug. 14 at Hillsboro’s Downtown Cruise.
The drive, organized by Jayson Hanschu’s American Family Insurance agency, will collect supplies from 7 to 9 p.m. at Main and 1st Sts.
The school has requested dry erase markers, college-ruled notebooks, metric and standard rulers, large tissue boxes, mechanical pencils and lead refills, ear buds, headphones, and seven-subject organizers. Each family donating will receive a free T-shirt.
Marion County Resource Center and Food Bank conducted a drive similar to an angel tree, in which donors selected paper backpacks containing lists of supplies they can buy for children in need.
“It’s been wildly successful this year,” organizer Becky Howard said. “Every single backpack we put out has been claimed and has been returned with supplies.”
Howard is now delivering the backpacks.
“I gave a little girl in Florence and her brother a backpack, and she was so excited for her Jojo Siwa backpack,” she said. “Those kids were jumping up and down with excitement. It was a really great moment to see them get so excited about other people caring about them.”
Peabody’s pastors, who organize a food drive there, have no plans for a supply drive this year.
“It’s been kind of a hectic summer,” Baptist pastor Rodger Charles said. “If someone is having trouble, they can come and talk to one of the pastors and arrangements can be made.”