PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – With the first day of school just a few weeks away, Vancouver Public Schools is hosting the Write From the Start school supply drive to ensure students have the supplies they need when they return to the classroom.
“Vancouver schools have 22,000 students and more than half of them live in poverty. So, we want to make sure that we’re not creating an extra burden for families when they have this August come up and they have to do back-to-school clothes, shoes and then also all the tools they need for the school day,” Vancouver Public Schools Community Partnerships Coordinator Sam Pike said.
Donate to Write From the Start
With donations providing everything from backpacks and crayons to headphones, Pike said the drive has a “huge impact” and helped between 10,000-12,000 students in 2022.
“Children sometimes can take on the stress of their families when they’re struggling, and we don’t want them to have to do that. So, when they can come into the school year and they know that they have everything they need, they don’t have to worry about their peers seeing them maybe not having the right stuff and their families don’t have to worry about, you know, ‘we’ve got to pay rent, we have to pay utilities, we have to buy food and now we have this extra expense,’ which can climb into the hundreds of dollars if you have multiple children,” Pike explained.
Dick Hannah Dealerships has also partnered with the school district and agreed to match up to $10,000 in donations, which Pike said can serve thousands of students.
