SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE HELD FOR SOUTH SUBURBAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO HELP KIDS RESTOCK

Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network recently hosted a school supply drive for students at Cook County School District 130 and Posen-Robbins School District 143.5. The drive was meant to help students restock on supplies that have been used or damaged since the year started. Photo Credit: Blue Island-Robbin Neighborhood Network
Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network recently hosted a school supply drive for students at Cook County School District 130 and Posen-Robbins School District 143.5. The drive was meant to help students restock on supplies that have been used or damaged since the year started. Photo Credit: Blue Island-Robbin Neighborhood Network

SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE HELD FOR SOUTH SUBURBAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO HELP KIDS RESTOCK

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network recently hosted a school supply drive for the students of Cook County School District 130 and Posen-Robbins School District 143.5. The purpose of the school supply drive was to help students restock their school supplies and make sure they are able to stay focused for the duration of the school year.

In noticing that most school supply drives are hosted prior to the school year starting, the Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network decided to do a drive later in the year to replenish the supplies that have been depleted, destroyed, or lost over the last few months.

“We just decided that we would bring our partners together in our community to help some of the children with supplies that have been used up or destroyed. There is another population of children that are in our community schools who are homeless, and a lot of them don’t really get the back to school supplies. And so we’re working with the parents and the counselors to make sure that those children who are in desperate need of supplies are the first beneficiaries of what we’re doing,” said Kentric Benson, program coordinator for the Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network.

The Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network not only called on the community to donate supplies but they also had a number of people volunteer to help pack up the school supplies and prepare them to be delivered to students from Cook County School District 130 and Posen-Robbins School District 143.5.

In addition to packing bags full of donated school supplies, volunteers also wrote notes of encouragement to each of the students who will benefit from the school supply drive.

“When they come upon their first grading period, some of the students are deemed to be underachieving and not doing as well as they would want to do so we want to give them a thumbs up and encouraging word to let them know that if they did not do well in the first few months of school, that doesn’t have to be a determining factor for how they perform for the rest of the school year. I think that it’s important for the students to hear that somebody’s thinking about them or somebody’s praying for them or that somebody is watching over them or encouraging them,” said Benson.

The Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network is an initiative from the United Way of Metro Chicago and was created to support Blue Island, Robbins, and it’s surrounding communities with resources and opportunities to meet whatever needs the residents may have.

This school supply drive is just one way that the organization is working to support local students. Now that the school supply drive has taken place, the Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network is working on plans to host a uniform drive for students. To learn more about the Blue Island-Robbins Neighborhood Network, visit www.servebir.org.

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