Church project pays for school supplies
Staff writer
Countywide, parents of elementary school students are rushing to shop for school supplies, but students at Hillsboro Elementary School get most of their basic school supplies from a Parkview Mennonite Church ministry.
A group of five volunteers does the shopping based off supply lists provided by the school district, volunteer coordinator Rachel Winter said Tuesday.
Typically, they shop for 300 to 350 students, adding five extra sets to provide for children new to the community.
The idea sprang from an endowment established by a church member. Parkview wanted to use the money to help the community.
“The woman who left the endowment didn’t have children but loved them,” Winter said.
Parkview took the idea from an Emporia church’s program and has been providing school supplies for six or seven years.
“We also ask the church to donate,” Winter said. “The church also is very generous about donating, so we can keep the endowment going.”
Church members typically donate $4,000 to $5,000 a year to help buy school supplies, she said.
That goes a long way toward the $6,000 to $7,000 annual cost of the school supply program.
The church provides such items as regular and colored pencils, highlighters, markers, pencil boxes, three-ring binders with dividers, glue and glue sticks, erasers, red pens, and dry erase markers.
Shoppers divide up the supply lists.
“This year, there are five of us working on getting supplies,” Winter said.
Each shopper seeks specific school supplies. They have a nose for a good deal, she said.
Supplies are taken to the elementary school shortly before classes begin.
“We’re planning on packing up Aug. 13,” Winter said. “It’s usually just the group of us. One person has her grandkids come in, and some other people come in. We usually just sort them into a pile and mark them for that grade.”
Winter was asked to help several years ago.
“I am a retired teacher,” she said. “I taught in Hillsboro. I think it’s very exciting for every student to have everything they need on the first day of school. It’s just a really special thing, and the church backs and supports it, and that’s a very good thing.”
Besides basics provided by Parkview, students need backpacks, headphones, and socks to use on dry-erase boards.