“Parents left with a burden lifted:” Back-to-school event provides students with needed classroom essentials
SALISBURY, Md.- Monday, The Newton Community Center was filled with many school essentials as the upcoming school year is right around the corner.
We’re told the goal was to fulfill a need. “The conversation was like around the challenges of not a lot of students having the supplies they need to get through a successful year of school,” City of Salisbury Community Program Coordinator Robert Reed said.
The answer: a back-to-school supply drive alongside Wicomico Partnership for Families and Children. “Outside of all the events that are going on, which are great, there is a population that’s often missed. Lets kind of be a bridge and create an environment and a ecosystem where we can kind of meet them where they are,” WPFC Community Program Coordinator Timothy Palmer said.
“So we loaded up backpacks and providing COVID prevention materials, thermometers, hand sanitizing wipes, notebooks, and rulers. Anything to get our kids through this school with the most success they can have,” Reed said.
The duo gathered supplies found from the Wicomico County Schools supplies list and gave away over 130 backpacks.
Seeing the smiles on parents and kids faces is what Palmer says makes all the hard work worth it. “We just asked them ‘hey what grade is your child in? What color do you like?’ So it was just really interactive and the parents left with a burden lifted,” Palmer said.
“So when you see that it obviously lightens your heart up and makes you want to do something like this a lot more often,” Reed said.
As students prepare to head back to the classroom, those we spoke with had some encouraging words to share. “You can’t control everything, but you can manage what you can control. That’s your outlook, your prospective, and that’s also your practice,” Palmer said.
The supplies from Monday’s giveaway were provided by both the Newton Center and Wicomico Partnerships for Families and Friends.
Due to the great turnout, the duo tells us this won’t be their last collaboration.
