Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Event reaches out to students
Roanoke schools have begun filling thousands of bags with basic supplies for needy students.
Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times
Wyonna Altizer (left) and Kathryn Wade, volunteers from Home Shopping Network, sort through school supplies in preparation for the Back-to-School Extravaganza.
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It is not a revolutionary idea, but volunteers enjoy the process that will put school supplies in the hands of students in need.
"We didn't want a child in Roanoke city to go to school without school supplies," said Stephanie Doyle, a sixth-grade teacher at Breckinridge Middle School, while she placed pens in a box.
For a person like Doyle, who works with five middle-school girls in service projects through a program called Girls Rising Onto Womanhood, or GROW, the true work of improving the community lies in the little achievements of the day.
"This will allow a child to feel good in a classroom and get ready to start learning," she said.
Roanoke schools are filling a couple of thousand bags with school supplies for Saturday's Back-to-School Extravaganza at Patrick Henry High School. Donations came in different ways, including radio station Q99's "Pack the Bus" school supply drive and businesses and organizations that collected items throughout the summer.
On Monday, about 30 volunteers from Home Shopping Network, GROW and the PTA sorted what was collected. They placed notebooks, binders, folders, pencils, crayons and other items needed by elementary, middle and high school students into thousands of plastic bags.
Families attending the extravaganza need to bring the invitation postcard mailed to them and go to their school's booth to get the free bag of supplies.
"We know that we are going to have more families than last year because of the economy and the increase of unemployment rate," said Brenda Drake, a spokeswoman with Roanoke schools.
About 63 percent of children in Roanoke schools were eligible for the free and reduced-price lunch program in the 2008-09 school year.
Last year, the extravaganza provided school supplies for about 1,700 students. Drake said this year they expect to distribute items to about 2,500 children.
Families that don't have needs should also attend to learn more about school nutrition, adult education and special education programs and meet the schools' principals, staff and PTA members, Drake said.
"We hope that it is communicative for the parents," said Tiffany Woods, a spokeswoman with Roanoke schools.
Transportation will be provided from Melrose Towers, Pilot Street Northwest, Landsdowne library, Bluestone Park, Jamestown Apartments, Indian Village, and Hunt Avenue. School buses will depart each community center on the half-hour starting at 8:30 a.m. and return on the hour.
