School Supplies If You Are in Need!

Parents and families, if you are in need of school supplies and feel you cannot afford them this year, please keep reading. And if you can afford supplies but know someone who might not, please pass along the information in this blogpost. School supply costs can add up even though each item might not seem too expensive one at a time. And of course the economy has not come back like we all hoped and many families are still struggling to make ends meet. Now the school year begins and the best way to get a student off to a great start and feel comfortable and ready to learn is to have their supplies all purchased and ready to go. So what do you do if you cannot purchase these supplies?? Well, I have two options that have come available to start the year. One is literally today and tomorrow only and the other is ongoing. Please see details below.

Option 1: School Supply pickup at Cottage Grove Presbyterian Church, 1050 24th St., Des Moines, IA. For more details than I can provide, please call 279-9998. It is for grades Pre-K through 12. Family income must be at or below 150% poverty level. Bring proof of income and IDs for all members of the family. If you qualify, here are the dates and times you can stop by:

August 11th from 5-8 p.m.

August 12th from 10 a.m. to noon

I know it is short notice, but if it benefits at least one family from Carlisle, I will be very grateful for this service.

Option 2: My office! We collected gently used and unused supplies from students to end the year and I organized these in my office. We also took part in a local supply drive and are getting more from a Des Moines supply drive next week. Bottom line, I have a ton of supplies for students in need. These are available anytime, just email or call me. Students also know they can get more supplies during the year if they are in need and cannot afford it. They just have to stop into my office.

I hope this helps some families who are in need. There is a lot more than just intelligence that goes into learning and getting good grades. Having the needed supplies and being "just like everyone else" when it comes to having good, working materials is very important. And if you don't have these to start the year, you may never have them. So please, use these resources if you can. Thanks! (Ben Barry, 989-5413, ben.barry@carlisle.k12.ia.us)