South Suburban Community Group Donates School Supply Shopping Trip to Matteson School District 162 to Benefit Families; Surprises two families with back-to-school shopping spree

South Suburban Community Group Donates School Supply Shopping Trip to Matteson School District 162 to Benefit Families; Surprises two families with back-to-school shopping spree

Country Club Hills, Ill. -- Shopping carts overflowing with school supplies and backpacks were steered around a south suburban Walmart Monday as Matteson School District 162 school administrators shopped for families in need.

The scene was made possible thanks to a generous donation from the Making Disciples Boys Mentoring Program. The Making Disciples Boys Mentoring Program, a south suburban community group, has partnered with Matteson School District 162 for the last six years to support students by buying school supplies.

This year, Making Disciples donated $3,000 to help families who may not be able to afford all of the items on the back-to-school list. With the rising costs of school supplies, the donation helps to ease the economic burden for families, according to school administrators.

“Buying school supplies can be an added stress on families who are already struggling to make ends meet,” said Rebecca Dixon, Matteson 162’s assistant director of special education, who shopped with Jaime Goodley, 162’s director of special education, for everything from backpacks and notebooks to earbuds and glue sticks. “This donation from Making Disciples makes it possible for all of our students to be ready to learn on the first day of the school year.”

Dixon estimates that about 50 district families will benefit from the generosity of Making Disciples, including families who may be experiencing homelessness.

“Excellence is the expectation for our students and we know that to achieve that excellence our students must be equipped with every tool necessary to learn,” said Dr. Blondean Y. Davis, superintendent of Matteson School District 162.

“The Making Disciples donation of school supplies and partnership with our district helps us to achieve our goal of providing a quality education for every child who enters our schools.”

Making Disciples was founded in 2015 by Eric Bassette and his wife Annette. In years past the couple hosted a “Back to School” event in August, where they distributed school supplies. The Bassettes were determined to still make a difference despite having to cancel the “Back to School” event because of the pandemic in 2020.They decided that they would donate money to local school districts to buy the supplies students needed.

In addition to the school district, Bassette also bought school supplies for two families who were shopping Monday afternoon.

Jessica Minor was surprised and skeptical at first when her 7-year-old son, Tyler, said someone had offered to buy his school supplies.

“This means so much to me. School supplies can get very expensive,” said Minor, who is a single parent and has heard that some parents were opting out of buying school supplies this year because of the expense. “This is a blessing from God.”

Xyltreshia Williams was also grateful for the unexpected school supply shopping spree. A single mother, she was shopping for her two sons and godson, who will be attending school in the South Holland school district.

“The school supply list is growing longer and longer,” she said. “This is a blessing.”

Bassette recently retired from W.R. Grace, a Chicago chemical company, For the last seven years, W.R. Grace has given donations to Making Disciples to help children in the south suburbs. Although Bassette plans to move out of state to be closer to family, he said Making Disciples will continue to help students in the south suburbs.

“Making Disciples is just grateful that we can do this each year. We will come back next year and do it again,” Bassette said. “We like being able to give back to the community. Education is essential to our children’s well being and development. This is a small thing we can do to help our children.”

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