School Supply Drive
HSP has dealt in school supplies since 1992, the beginning of the Children’s Birthday Project. The birthday boxes featured in that program include them, recognizing how sorely they are needed by their poverty-level recipients. Click here to read a testimonial from two educators with a combined 60 years’ experience on how having to go without school supplies affects a child.
It was in 2004, however, that an unexpected call from the Disney Corporation led to a new focus on school supplies. Disney chose to award a worthy charity with 100 backpacks filled with $60 worth of school supplies. Disney selected HSP as its Chicago-area beneficiary by going to the Charity Navigator website and reviewing HSP’s high ranking for fiscal management.
HSP Executive Director/Founder Karole Kettering was aware that DuPage County had a school supply distribution but was unaware of the details. That year, when the county program ended as scheduled in early August, over 1,000 children remained unserved.
Clearly, the unmet need was great, and soon retail sales for the supplies would begin. Could HSP and its volunteers lend a hand?
The call went out to 1,400 active volunteers, and the response was immediate. Not only that, but the supplies kept coming in, more every year. Since then, HSP has been able to supply an increasing volume of materials to the county for its distribution, as well as fill orders from individual schools. HSP donated 1½ cargo vans full of supplies to the DuPage County Back-to-School Fair.
Contact HSP at 630.221.8340 or email hsp@humanitarianservice.org beginning in July if you would like to help in this effort. We can update you on what items are most needed when we hear from you. Help our children to make a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.
Click here to print the School Supply Drive flyer.
