CCS Seeks Donations For Annual Tools For School Event
July 7, 2017 at 5:03 p.m.
CCS Seeks Donations For Annual Tools For School Event
By David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
To help all Kosciusko County children get the school year started off on equal footing again this year, CCS is asking for donations – especially monetary donations – for the program by 4 p.m. July 31.
The Tools For School supply giveaway is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2 at the county fairgrounds.
Donations can be dropped off or mailed to CCS, 1195 Mariners Drive, Warsaw. If writing a check, put “Tools For School” in the memo line.
“It’s a whole event,” said CCS Executive Director Steve Possell. “It’s not just a backpack we give away. What we do is give them everything they need agewise, gradewise; everything they need to go into that backpack for the school year.”
Director of Client Assistance Peggi Lisenbee Wright said, “They don’t get every supply individual classes require, because that’s just impossible. Back when we did 129 kids we could do that. But they do get everything they need to start the day, to be able to do their homework and walk into school feeling like they’re equal to the other students, which every student should be.”
Possell said, “The thing with getting financial donations is we can buy the things a lot cheaper than people buying them themselves, so that’s why we try to do it that way.”
He said staff at the Aug. 2 event will check to verify the children are in the parents’ household and are attending school. Lisenbee Wright said the best way for adults to prove the children with them are their children is school registration, which can be printed off or viewed on their phone. Students receiving school supplies must live in and attend school in Kosciusko County.
“It is kindergarten through high school. Not preschool,” Lisenbee Wright said.
Warsaw Community Schools Food Service will provide breakfast again this year at the event.
Fiesta Hair Salon will provide free haircuts for children who receive school supplies, Possell said.
“They’re excited,” Lisenbee Wright said of Fiesta’s annual commitment to the event. “I cannot thank them enough.”
“We’re really trying to get every kid off on the same playing field,” Possell said. “(Fiesta) donates all their time.”
CCS board member Steve Foster got book bags again this year for the program “at a very, very good cost,” Lisenbee Wright said.
She said CCS is trying to get more flash drives for the giveaway this year since most schools now provide each student with a tablet. “We would need to purchase those,” she said.
Other school supplies needed include three-ring binders, pocket folders, book bags, filler paper and rulers.
“Who we want to thank is particularly the fair board and fairgrounds,” Lisenbee Wright said, for providing its Home & Family Arts building for free again this year.
Volunteers for the program this year include Ami Pitt and her crew, Warsaw Wesleyan Church and Kosciusko REMC.
Lake City Bank and a department at Zimmer Biomet are collecting school supplies for Tools For School, Possell said. Meijer is providing funds to help cover the cost of supplies.
Service agencies and churches also will be on hand.
Warsaw Wesleyan Church is returning with their kids program, which Lisenbee Wright said worked out really well in 2016. Others scheduled to be there include The Help Center, Medication and Dental Assistance, CCS Project Independence and Hand Up, BrightPoint and Before5.
“We try to get the agencies that provide basic needs at the event because there’s such a great variety of parents and kids who need that, so then they can talk to them about insurance or kids program and things like that. I like that part about it a lot,” Lisenbee Wright said.
After the Aug. 2 event is over, CCS will take back any leftover supplies to its facilities on Mariner Drive. Those supplies will be handed out to children whose families were unable to make the program at the fairgrounds.
“We really need donations this year because we tend to bring back quite a bit, but last year we brought back very little,” Lisenbee Wright said.
In 2014, Tools For School serviced 1,278 kids on the first day. In 2016, it serviced 1,248 children on the first day and then an additional 197 at CCS afterward.
Lisenbee Wright said, “We have thought before of not doing Tools For School because it costs us money. Donations are down. But when you have 1,200 kids show up to get (help), you just can’t” discontinue the program.
As long as CCS continues to have that many kids showing up for school supplies, she said they will continue the program. “There’s an obvious need ...,” she said.
“It’s needed,” Possell agreed.
Lisenbee Wright can be contacted at 574-269-6019, ext. 222.
The CCS website is www.combinedcommunityservices.org.
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To help all Kosciusko County children get the school year started off on equal footing again this year, CCS is asking for donations – especially monetary donations – for the program by 4 p.m. July 31.
The Tools For School supply giveaway is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2 at the county fairgrounds.
Donations can be dropped off or mailed to CCS, 1195 Mariners Drive, Warsaw. If writing a check, put “Tools For School” in the memo line.
“It’s a whole event,” said CCS Executive Director Steve Possell. “It’s not just a backpack we give away. What we do is give them everything they need agewise, gradewise; everything they need to go into that backpack for the school year.”
Director of Client Assistance Peggi Lisenbee Wright said, “They don’t get every supply individual classes require, because that’s just impossible. Back when we did 129 kids we could do that. But they do get everything they need to start the day, to be able to do their homework and walk into school feeling like they’re equal to the other students, which every student should be.”
Possell said, “The thing with getting financial donations is we can buy the things a lot cheaper than people buying them themselves, so that’s why we try to do it that way.”
He said staff at the Aug. 2 event will check to verify the children are in the parents’ household and are attending school. Lisenbee Wright said the best way for adults to prove the children with them are their children is school registration, which can be printed off or viewed on their phone. Students receiving school supplies must live in and attend school in Kosciusko County.
“It is kindergarten through high school. Not preschool,” Lisenbee Wright said.
Warsaw Community Schools Food Service will provide breakfast again this year at the event.
Fiesta Hair Salon will provide free haircuts for children who receive school supplies, Possell said.
“They’re excited,” Lisenbee Wright said of Fiesta’s annual commitment to the event. “I cannot thank them enough.”
“We’re really trying to get every kid off on the same playing field,” Possell said. “(Fiesta) donates all their time.”
CCS board member Steve Foster got book bags again this year for the program “at a very, very good cost,” Lisenbee Wright said.
She said CCS is trying to get more flash drives for the giveaway this year since most schools now provide each student with a tablet. “We would need to purchase those,” she said.
Other school supplies needed include three-ring binders, pocket folders, book bags, filler paper and rulers.
“Who we want to thank is particularly the fair board and fairgrounds,” Lisenbee Wright said, for providing its Home & Family Arts building for free again this year.
Volunteers for the program this year include Ami Pitt and her crew, Warsaw Wesleyan Church and Kosciusko REMC.
Lake City Bank and a department at Zimmer Biomet are collecting school supplies for Tools For School, Possell said. Meijer is providing funds to help cover the cost of supplies.
Service agencies and churches also will be on hand.
Warsaw Wesleyan Church is returning with their kids program, which Lisenbee Wright said worked out really well in 2016. Others scheduled to be there include The Help Center, Medication and Dental Assistance, CCS Project Independence and Hand Up, BrightPoint and Before5.
“We try to get the agencies that provide basic needs at the event because there’s such a great variety of parents and kids who need that, so then they can talk to them about insurance or kids program and things like that. I like that part about it a lot,” Lisenbee Wright said.
After the Aug. 2 event is over, CCS will take back any leftover supplies to its facilities on Mariner Drive. Those supplies will be handed out to children whose families were unable to make the program at the fairgrounds.
“We really need donations this year because we tend to bring back quite a bit, but last year we brought back very little,” Lisenbee Wright said.
In 2014, Tools For School serviced 1,278 kids on the first day. In 2016, it serviced 1,248 children on the first day and then an additional 197 at CCS afterward.
Lisenbee Wright said, “We have thought before of not doing Tools For School because it costs us money. Donations are down. But when you have 1,200 kids show up to get (help), you just can’t” discontinue the program.
As long as CCS continues to have that many kids showing up for school supplies, she said they will continue the program. “There’s an obvious need ...,” she said.
“It’s needed,” Possell agreed.
Lisenbee Wright can be contacted at 574-269-6019, ext. 222.
The CCS website is www.combinedcommunityservices.org.
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