We have now completed our first round of school supply giveaways to over 80 grade K1 to grade 6 students in our immediate neighborhood in dire need of school supplies.
We had to plan different kits for each grade level as the school supply requirements vary by grade levels. We also added a generous dose of pencils, watercolors, and crayolas to each kit to encourage the kids to explore drawing and coloring freely without parents getting anxious about the expense involved.
The clear plastic bags you see housing the school supply kits are actually durable waterproof schoolbags with handles ranging the spectrum of the rainbow. They meet the increasingly stringent school bag safety requirements and are tropical storm-proof!
With the help of some neighbors we created a complete list of all eligible students in the neighborhood and used it for roll call during the giveaway. Instead of making a public announcement on social media and at the local governance board office, we spread word from mouth to mouth making sure the the parents of children in our target age group heard of the exact date and time of the giveaway. Even though 80 school bags full of supplies sounds like a lot there are hundreds of parents around the island who would willingly travel far and wide to snatch one of these precious school bags. Resources are, as economics teaches, limited. With a rural poverty rate of over 30% many parents on our island struggle to make ends meet and a daily basis.
We had so many thankful parents come to us over and over to let us know just how much these beautiful colorful school bags full of school supplies meant to them, relieving them of the anxiety usually associated with back-to-school each year. And then we had so many more parents who were not selected in the initial round of giveaways come to us asking us if we could give away more school supply bags. So we are now considering organizing another round of school supplies giveaway in the coming weeks!
