Donation boxes are shown for the Greenwood Education Foundation’s school supply drive. Supplies are being collected through the end of the month for students’ second-semester needs. Submitted photo
Back to school shopping is typically thought of as a once-a-year event.
But supplies dwindle as the year goes on, leaving families in need facing a challenge with ongoing support. The Greenwood Education Foundation is tackling this issue head-on with a new drive.
The foundation, which supports students at Greenwood Community Schools, has launched a school supply drive to distribute supplies to kids in need during their second semester, when their supplies often need to be refilled and the stores no longer carry an abundance of items and deals. This drive is unique because support services for school supplies are offered at the start of school, but not during other times of the year.
Origins of the school supply drive can be traced back to 2021, when the GEF launched its Cares program amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Our main focus is food, clothing and mental health,” said Tiffany Woods, president of the Greenwood Education Foundation. “But essentially, it’s that idea that students need to be serviced both emotionally, physically and mentally in order to show up and do their best at school.”
The Cares Team understands that the start of the school year often brings generous support through events like United Way’s Fast Track, where students in need receive backpacks filled with free supplies.
But they also heard from teachers that, as the year goes on, the supplies get low. They found out that many teachers were actually paying for supplies out of their own pockets, Woods said.
“And of course, by the time you go to the stores in the wintertime, the sales are no longer happening, the supplies are no longer in abundance,” she said. “So we just thought, this is now the time, when items are front and center and on sale, we’re going to capitalize on that the community support, [which] is always great, around school supplies.”
From now through the end of July, GEF is collecting “as many donations as possible” for second-semester school supply needs, Woods said. They are collecting supplies for grades K-12, she said.
“Nothing is not accepted,” Woods said.
GEF officials have noticed that they tend to get a lot of supplies for little kids, but as not as many for older kids. A specific need they see, for example, is for backpacks for children in middle school that don’t have characters on them, she said.
“Older kids backpacks are definitely one of the top needs that we have,” Woods said. “Headphones are also the top need for kids that they tend to go through quickly.”
Other supply needs include markers, pencils, glue sticks and pads of paper. Older kids will also need highlighters, binders, dividers and index cards, Woods said.
With the use of the GEF Cares bus, all donations that are collected through the month of July will be stored and distributed the students in need, the foundation said.
Donation bins are located at several local businesses throughout Greenwood, including Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza, Everwise Credit Union, Raymond James Financial Services, Storm Chiropractic and more. If people are unable to make a physical donation, monetary donations can also be made online at greenwoodeducationfoundation.org.
GEF is constantly looking at the needs for the Greenwood schools community, but they are also looking for volunteers to help organize and distribute the supplies, Woods said. This information can be found on their website.
“We would love to grow our volunteer base for that,” she said.
DONATION SITES
Here’s where residents can donate school supplies to the Greenwood Education Foundation this month:
- Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza, 401 Market Plaza, Greenwood.
- Everwise Credit Union, 18 Providence Drive and 150 S. Marlin Drive (located inside Meijer), Greenwood.
- Raymond James Financial Services, 1263 State Road 135, Greenwood.
- Faraday Toys, 350 S. Madison Ave., Greenwood
- The Energy Spot, 3100 Meridian Parke Drive, Suite N, Greenwood.
- Storm Chiropractic, 622 N. Madison Ave., Suites 7 and 8, Greenwood.
- Podiatry Associates of Indiana, 8615 U.S. 31 South, Suite A, Indianapolis.
Monetary donations can be made online at greenwoodeducationfoundation.org.
