By Linn Ann Huntington
Ellis County Ministerial Alliance
When families shop for food for their Fourth of July picnics and barbecues, the folks at First Call for Help of Ellis County are hoping shoppers also will pick up a few school supplies.
Backpacks for Kids is an annual summer project run by First Call. It provides free new backpacks and grade-appropriate school supplies for children in need. It services children preschool through 12th grade who live in and attend school in Ellis County. This includes children who attend public schools, private schools, and those who are homeschooled, said Laura Shoaff, who organizes and runs Backpacks for Kids each year.
Families may register their children for the free program until July 28. Registration is available by contacting the First Call office at (785) 623-2800, filling out the registration form online at firstcallelliscounty.com, returning the registration form every child was sent home with before school let out, or stopping by the office at 607 E. 13th St.
Distribution day for registered children is 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 6. If any supplies are left over, they will be distributed from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, Aug. 7. Both events will take place at the Hays Recreation Commission Leisure Center, west side of the building, 1105 Canterbury.
A school supply drive, sponsored by Nex-Tech and Nex-Tech Wireless, will be held from 8 a.m. to noon Wednesday, July 15, in front of Walmart. Lists of needed supplies will be provided.
Shoaff, a retired teacher, is in her 12th year running Backpacks for Kids, which last year distributed 558 backpacks to Ellis County children in need.
“I remember when kids would bring their supplies to school in plastic grocery bags,” Shoaff said, adding that many children still do.
Each new backpack is filled with grade-appropriate supplies and a hygiene kit. The supplies for each grade level are based on lists provided by the schools, she said. “We are doing our best to accommodate what the teachers ask for.” For example, this year kindergartners are receiving additional supplies because of teacher requests.
Delta Dental is providing “Smile Kits” containing a toothbrush (with different sizes for different age levels), toothpaste, and dental floss, Shoaff said.
Women Who Lead, a philanthropic group in Hays, is providing “Bloom Bags” containing feminine hygiene products, a hairbrush, hand sanitizer, and other essentials for girls to store in their backpacks. Shoaff said these will be offered to girls grade 6 and above, but will be available to younger girls, also.
The list of needed school supplies and hygiene items is at the end of this article. It is also on the First Call website under the “Looking to Donate” tab on the Backpacks4Kids page.
Shoaff said the following supplies are in greatest need currently: College-ruled spiral notebooks, wide-ruled spiral notebooks, 12-pack colored pencils, loose leaf paper in wide and college-ruled, and 1” three-ring hard-sided binders, any color.
Many churches have donation boxes where members may drop off supplies. First Call will pick up those boxes July 7-8, Shoaff said. Each box contains the supply list and has a QR code that, when scanned, will put the list on the user’s phone.
A donation jar is available at Cerv’s at 27th and Vine St., and Shoaff said she will be contacting other Hays businesses to drop off additional jars.
She said that “volunteers are a vital part of our distribution.” Volunteers are needed to help stuff backpacks as supplies come in, to help with distribution days (last year 38 volunteers helped out on those days alone), and to help set up the room at the Recreation Center on Wednesday, Aug. 5, the day before distribution begins.
In past years, a number of service organizations and businesses have had volunteers donate a few hours. “This is a great way for your organization and business to come and spend a few hours donating their time to the community,” Shoaff said.
Individuals may volunteer by calling the First Call office at the above phone number and specifying the days and times they can work.
Each year vendors also come to the distribution days to provide information to children and their families. In the past, these have included Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Hays Public Library Bookmobile, and the KSU-Cottonwood District Health and Nutrition Office.
Shoaff gave a special “shout out” to Joseph Boeckner, owner of JoeBobOutfitters in Hays. “He has been a godsend,” Shoaff said. “He lets us use part of their warehouse to store our supplies.” The warehouse is temperature controlled, which keeps the crayons from melting in the heat, which has happened in the past, she said.
“They put our supplies on pallets, and the day before distribution, they load up the pallets and transport them” to the Recreation Center. Then Fort Hays State University student athletes unload the pallets.
Shoaff also thanked the following organizations for providing grants to help with Backpacks for Kids. In addition to Delta Dental, those are: Midwest Energy, which provided a $1,000 grant; Thunder on the Plains, which is providing a grant from the funds received at its recent car show; Casey’s, which provided a $250 grant; and Heartland Community Foundation, which provided a $1,672 grant for reusable plastic storage containers.
Individuals who would like to donate supplies directly to First Call may drop them off at 607 E. 13th St., or individuals may mail financial donations to First Call at that address, with Backpacks for Kids in the Memo line.
Shoaff said, “I would like to thank the community for all the volunteers and the donations. We couldn’t do this without the support from the community.”
The school supplies needed are 3x3” Post-It Sticky Notes (any color); new backpacks, medium and large sizes; Highlighters and dry erase markers; plastic school boxes/pencil bags; notebook paper (wide ruled and college-ruled), 4 oz. Elmer’s School Glue; large pink erasers; 10-pack Crayola Washable Markers (classic colors); pointed scissors; 12-pack colored pencils; 24-pack Crayola Crayons; two pocket folders; #2 yellow pencils; pens (blue, black, and red); earbuds/small headphones; boxes of facial tissue; graph paper; one-subject spiral notebooks (wide and college ruled. Covers can be any color); 1” three-ring binders (hard sided, not flimsy), any color; glue sticks (no gel); tab index divider pages; composition notebooks; and combination locks.
Hygiene products needed are male and female regular size shampoo, bar soap, and deodorant.