It’s that time of year again! It is time for the 4th annual “Pack the Bus” school supplies drive to benefit students of the Hopkins County school districts. Like the past few years, CANHelp will set aside Friday, August 8th to collect school supply donations from the community. School supplies can be dropped off from 7:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on that date or during regular business hours any other day.
This year, instead of distributing school supplies directly to eligible Hopkins County families, CANHelp will divide all the donated supplies evenly and distribute them directly to each elementary school in Hopkins County. Eligible families will be able to pick up backpacks from CANHelp beginning on August 11th.
“Since we have come to realize that most classrooms will collect each student’s required school supplies and have one classroom set of supplies, we decided it would be easier on our agency and the families that we serve if we just took the supplies directly to the schools for classroom distribution,” said Adam Teer, CANHelp Executive Director, “We want to concentrate on giving backpacks to the families in need. That way, the child doesn’t have to walk into school empty handed and because backpacks are typically the most expensive item that parents have to purchase.”
Each year, CANHelp collects enough school supplies to take care of over 300 eligible children.
“Each of the last few years, we have had to turn many families away simply because there have been fewer and fewer donations each year,” said Teer, “we’d really like to get that trend turned around this year. As a community, we cannot reasonably expect our children to excel in their education if we are unwilling to assist those in need with basic educational supplies.”
CANHelp will accept donations of basic school supplies and backpacks. Monetary donations will be accepted and 100% of those donations will be used to purchase backpacks. Donations can dropped off at CANHelp’s office at 613 Gilmer Street or made online at www.canhelponline.org.
