Caravan of Caring gives school supplies to kids in need
LEWES, Del. – Pencils, paper, even binders may not seem that expensive, but they can add up, especially if money’s tight.
That’s why Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation started the Caravan of Caring.
Volunteers going from one school to another in the Cape Henlopen School District Friday with bins filled to the brim with school supplies donated by local community members and businesses.
CHEF President Rick Grier-Reynolds explains, “It was an attempt to bring in community resources, working with the school district to identify areas of need in the support that otherwise weren’t being met.”
That need is helping those students that won’t be walking in on the first day of school with their hands full of pens, notebooks, and binders.
“We have over 100 homeless kids in our district. We also have 38 percent of our kids on reduced or free lunch or limited income families,” explains Cape Henlopen High School science teacher Bill Geppert.
That’s why the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation or CHEF teamed up with the district to bring those much needed student supplies to teachers.
“We ask kids to bring a lot of stuff in and a lot of kids can’t get those supplies so this is a really cool opportunity. The common things that are 30 bucks for a calculator, that’s a lot for a limited income family,” explains Geppert.
Supplies that often times teachers spend hundreds even thousands of dollars paying for, just to make sure those students are on the same playing field as every other kid.
“One of the things we try and do as teachers, we spend a lot of our own money and that’s what’s so wonderful about CHEF is that they provided us the opportunity to help us out a little bit too.”
Overall CHEF was able to donate about four thousand dollars worth of school supplies to teachers Friday.
CHEF also provides nearly $15,000 worth of grants for teachers throughout the year to support in-school projects and field trips even robotics competitions.
