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Can you believe that it’s only 5 weeks until school starts for so many of us? Some families have even less time. Oy! Unfortunately in the Philly area, and across the nation, there are families who won’t have the pleasure of carrying a new back pack to school filled with freshly-sharpened pencils, new packs of notepaper, and new boxes of crayons. Some families are struggling because of the slow economy, and some families have always struggled financially.
Organizations in Philly like Cradles to Crayons and Rubye’s Kids are collecting school supplies and monetary donations right now to help homeless and low-income children.
Cradles to Crayons
C2C will help you organize a product collection drive for your school. Reach out to their Community Outreach Coordinator, Kloe Unruh, through email or by calling 215-836-0958 x.213. Check out the list of most needed school supply items. Complete the form to sign your school up.
If you don’t have the time to organize a product collection drive, Cradles to Crayons accepts school supply donations, along with other items at any time. Check the hours for the warehouse in West Conshohocken or see if there’s a community drop off point near you.
Rubye’s Kids
Started as annual Christmas party for homeless children in North Philly, Rubye’s Kids also provides school supplies and other necessities to homeless children throughout the year. Because Rubye’s Kids strives to help kids in shelters feel good about themselves and not different because they’re homeless, volunteers work together to buy school supplies and backpacks with monetary donations. A $20 donation fills a backpack. Pretty amazing!
Checks can be sent to: Rubye’s Kids, Inc., 453 Johnson Street, Suite 101, Jenkintown, PA 19046.
Elmer’s Bag It Forward
Don’t forget you can always donate school supplies to your children’s school. Elmer’s Bag It Forward program has been encouraging parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to do just that for the past few years. Stephanie of A Grande Life wrote about her recent experience buying supplies at Walmart to donate to her son’s preschool. You can get involved in the #BagItForward movement yourself. Connect on Facebook, Twitter and/or Pinterest.
Online Resources
If you need further inspiration, Volunteer Guide has lots of tips for getting started, from donating your own unused supplies to common classroom needs to I Love Schools, an online program that matches donors with teachers. Two other online programs are Donor’s Choose and Adopt A Classroom.
Local Programs
If you live in the Philly area and know of other organizations collecting school supplies, please put their information in the comments, and I’ll add them to this post.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
this is such a great idea! i love cradles to crayons too!!
pammypam recently posted..Who’s Your Daddy, Baby? by Lisa Pell
such a worthwhile cause – I always stock up when basics are .99 – this way we donate some AND restock our own during the winter break.
Hillary
hchybinski recently posted..#vlogmom | You Say It’s Your Birthday
Yes, I need to remember to buy some extra supplies in August. After Christmas we needed more of those pencil eraser tops and glue sticks, and the preschool and kindergarten classes sent several requests home for glue sticks.
Some schools have school stores that help offset costs of supplying kids in your school with the supplies they nee-so check with your school too.
I also recommend buying extras and having your child bring in a bag for their teacher on the first day of school.
Kelly recently posted..Steps to Living on One Income – Steps 1 to 3