The South Suburban Family Shelter is beginning its seventh annual search for “Back to School Angels,” donors who will help provide school supplies for children receiving services from the nonprofit agency, which supports victims of domestic violence and their children.
The Homewood-based shelter’s state volunteer coordinator, Karen Smith, said work on the project begins well ahead of schools opening so all of the “adopted” kids are prepared from the first day.
Smith said the number of schools and variety of lists create a challenge every year.
“These kids are from all over,” Smith said. “We’re dealing with many different schools.”
Smith said the supply lists are for kids ranging from preschoolers to high school students who are from five to 10 different school districts. Smith said the lists vary from district to district even for students of the same grade level.
As a result, there is no way to know the exact cost of completely supplying a child. To encourage participation, donor “angels” are given several options when it comes to helping out.
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“For people that don’t want to adopt an entire list, we (accept) cash donations and we also get some gift card donations,” Smith said.
Groups of people sometimes pitch in to cover one or more child’s needs, she said, and any individual can complete a portion of the list and the shelter will take care of the rest.
Volunteers do the shopping for donors, or an individual or family may shop from the list and bring in the supplies.
Smith said shopping for the items often becomes a family affair.
“It’s kind of neat because some people will do the shopping with their own son or daughter,” she said. “They make it kind of a family thing and they sometimes like to adopt a (student) that’s the same age as their son or daughter.”
Smith said donors can request a student of a specific age or grade to adopt.
“I try to accommodate that as best I can,” Smith said. “They get the child’s first name and they get the grade. That’s all the information we can give out.”
Although there are repeat donors every year, Smith said new donors are always needed.
“If we have more donors than kids, we ask if a donor would like to donate cash or a gift card,” she said.
She said for the last two years, each child in the program has been provided with a gift card to buy new shoes or clothes, as well as a backpack of supplies.
Smith said any funds not used at the beginning of the school year are used halfway through the school year to replenish supplies.
The most emotional part of her volunteer work, Smith said, is when the kids draw or write thank you notes to the donor “angels.”
“It makes me emotional every time I think about it,” Smith said. “It’s really touching how appreciative these kids are.”
She said some of the older students will thank the donor for more than the supplies, saying “this is the one thing that my mom didn’t have to worry about.”
Vicki Meilach, the South Suburban Family Shelter community outreach coordinator, said a former staff member started the program seven years ago when counselors noticed kids were coming in with their school supply lists.
“With the economic (downturn) … our clients were having a hard time buying school supplies,” Meilach said. “If we have a client with two, three, four children in all different grades, the lists they’re getting from the schools these days are extensive.”
Meilach said she gets multiple calls every day from people who want to help the shelter. She said the program is a way for families to help shelter families in a mutually beneficial way.
“If they’re already going shopping with their children, it’s a wonderful pay-it-forward lesson for a parent to teach their child,” Meilach said.
To become a donor “angel” or to volunteer, email Smith at [email protected].
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter.