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Stafford County officials say more families have asked for help in providing school supplies for their kids this year. |
Twenty-two Stafford County schools picked up free supplies this week for students who cannot afford them.
The free stuff included 400 backpacks, as well as pencils, pens, crayons, notebooks and binders.
For the second straight year, the school system teamed up with Apple Federal Credit Union to collect enough supplies to fill a school bus.
The campaign is called "Stuff the Bus," though officials do not actually put the supplies in a school bus. Residents and businesses donated the items.
School principals and guidance counselors obtained the supplies last Monday and Tuesday at Stafford Middle School.
"We approach the principals and the guidance counselors because they're the ones who are hearing from the parents," said Crystal Loving, an administrative assistant for resource development.
More families than usual have called schools this year because they can't afford supplies, Loving said. "It seems like there is more need," she said.
Title 1 schools had the first chance to pick up supplies, said Ron Singleton, Stafford schools' director of resource development. Those schools receive federal money to educate children from low-income families.
Singleton said the division also plans to distribute materials to schools that couldn't make it to Stafford Middle last week.
Lisa Snow, a guidance counselor at Conway Elementary, picked up school supplies on Monday, including backpacks, composition books and scissors.
"In these times, you don't want someone to have to pick between a meal and school supplies," she said.
Jeff Branscome: 540/374-5402
Email: jbranscome@freelancestar.com
