Our School Food Pantry: Still Open but Will Look a Little Different!

We are excited that our School Food Pantry will still be open on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month and that we will still be able to help those in our community who need extra help and support. But with the COVID-19 virus and restrictions, our pantry will definitely look a little different. Whether you have been to our School Pantry or not, we want to help anyone we can in our community. Here is what you need to know for our upcoming openings. Please read and spread the word!

*When are we open: 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month. HOWEVER, we will be open the following upcoming dates:
Thursday, March 26th, 4-6 p.m.
Thursday, April 2nd, 4-6 p.m.

*Where are we located: Our actual pantry is located just inside the east elementary doors right across from the nurse's office. HOWEVER, during all future openings (until school/COVID-19 restrictions are lifted), we will have the food/supply items just outside the east entry on the sidewalk or just inside the first set of doors.

*How will the pantry operate now/currently: Typically, people have been able to come into our pantry and take what they need. We limited people to one milk, one dozen eggs, and one bread. And limited to one bag of freezer items and up to 5 personal care/hygiene items. The rest of the items were take what your family needed. HOWEVER, with the pantry moving to the outside and trying to ration what we have and keep the line moving, this will be our system for the foreseeable future:
--All items will be pre-bagged by our volunteers
--Those who visit our pantry will sign in as they always do (do not need to prove financial need or bring ID)
--Each person/family will get one milk, one dozen eggs, one bread (we are trying to get enough of these to provide for all), one bag of freezer items pre-bagged, one bag of personal care items (pre-bagged), and one or two bags of dry goods/non-perishables. Once you have these bags, you are able to leave. So it should go quickly for all who attend, but you won't be able to "shop" as you have been able to before.
--We do ask that all who attend our pantry practice safe social distancing as much as possible. And as much as we would love to see your kids and our students, please leave them at home or in the car. This will keep the kids healthy and not risk exposure!
--Until further notice, our School Food Pantry will operate in this manner.

*Who can use our pantry:   Anyone in our community who could benefit from this resource is invited to stop in. You do not have to bring your ID and do not have to prove financial need. If/when school is in session, our students can use the pantry any day of the week. They can fill a backpack and bring food home to their family. We sometimes get a large variety of snacks that students can use daily.

*Where do we get our food/supplies: We get most of our food from the Food Bank of Iowa as they are the group that helps set up School Food Pantries. We also purchase some of our fresh food from Fareway using our Pantry account that is funded by donations and fundraisers. At times throughout the year, we have different groups and families donate food and supplies to our pantry. Thank you to all who have donated in the past...you are amazing!

  I think that is about it for now. Thank you for your support and thank you for helping spread the word. We do not know how many will show up to our pantry the next couple weeks but we are hoping to help as many as we can!

Summer Meal Programs!

Summer Meals and Pantry Programs!

     With summer approaching very soon, our counseling and student support team wants to make sure families in our community know and have a few resources when it comes to food and meals. We know the summer can be tough for some families to provide enough food for their family, especially their children. Our community is fortunate to have two different food pantries. One is our School Food Pantry located in our elementary building. The other is the Community Food Pantry located at Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Carlisle. Here are the “open” dates for the School Food Pantry this summer:

June 6^th

June 20^th

**July 2^nd (This is a TUESDAY. We will not be open on July 4^th)

July 18^th

August 1^st

August 15^th

   The Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Carlisle (1100 Market St.) has a food pantry open to the community on the 2^nd and 4^th Tuesday of the month. This pantry is open from 4:00-5:30 p.m. on these days.

   One final great source of food and meals is the Summer Meal Meet-Up program. There is a graphic attached to this Counselor’s Corner giving more details. This program provides daily breakfast and lunch to children age 18 and under here in Warren County. Polk County also has several daily breakfast and lunch programs as well. If these Warren County locations do not work, feel free to text “FOOD” to 877-877 to find out where the nearest free meal location is each day. You can also call the United Way at 2-1-1 and ask about the Summer Meals program.

    If you have any questions, please reach out to a school counselor in our district. We are here to help and we want to make sure the children and families in our district have resources to help with any of their food/nutrition needs.

Love and Logic Resource Links for Parents

Here is a brief article from our Counseling Corner that gives parents some resources and tools from Love and Logic, a great resource for parents and anyone who works with kids.

Have things been a little chaotic lately?   Looking for a few new tools to add to your parenting toolbox?

Perhaps you will find exactly what you need with Love and Logic.   Love and Logic provides strategies to help raise self-confident, happier, responsible, and motivated children while making parenting fun and rewarding.

Sound too good to be true? Check out https://www.loveandlogic.com/articles-advice/parents

This website is full of articles, video samples, and resources to get you on your way.

For frequently asked questions check out https://www.loveandlogic.com/faq

Love and Logic does offer online classes (https://www.loveandlogic.com/love-and-logic-parenting-on-line) and many short video clips can be found on Youtube.

Why Knowing More About Human Trafficking is Important to Us.....in the Carlisle Community

   Kim Flagor and I attended a workshop on Human Trafficking at our annual counseling conference back in November. We were really moved by the terrible and sad information we learned. It stuck with us. Just this week, I had the chance to go to another presentation on Human Trafficking by a local group that works to help young women get their lives back after being rescued from trafficking. Again....I was deeply moved. Soon, our counseling staff will hear from a third group, this time a group that helps get the message out to our teens and students as to what Human Trafficking is and why it matters to them. In other words, Human Trafficking is a big deal. But why? And why in little ol' Carlisle? Well, here are a few main reasons (in no particular order...they are all important!)



First of all, what is Human Trafficking?
 Human trafficking is modern-day slavery and involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. It also happens to be the 2nd most profitable crime in the world, only trailing drug trafficking (although it could someday overtake that based on the rate it is growing)

 So, now that we know what it is, why does it matter to us?

 1. Iowa has the 5th highest rate of human trafficking in the country. That means only 4 states have a larger trafficking issue than us. This is likely due to the intersection of I35 and I80...too interstate systems that criss-cross the entire country. Our mental health facilities (or lack of) is another key reason. And a final reason is drug trafficking in our state which typically goes hand in hand with human trafficking. Dorothy's House presentation noted that heroin is on a major rise in our state because it is cheap and addictive and this is one of the drugs key to the trafficking issue.

 2. But we are not just talking about our young girls (and often boys as well) being stolen or abducted and taken out of state. Up to 80% of human trafficking is "Familial Trafficking". This means a majority of trafficking of our young people is done by their own family. Their mothers, fathers, step-parents, foster parents, older siblings, etc. They are selling their own child's body multiple times a day for money to pay rent or for a drug habit.

 3. According to Dorothy's House, guess who is the most popular victim to traffic? A 12-14 year old girl that is tall, skinny, and blond and right from the Des Moines area. We aren't talking 18 year olds and 20 year olds. We aren't talking kids from Chicago or LA. We are talking our kids. Our pre-teens and teenagers. As a father of 5....that matters to me!

 4. 1 in 3 teens on the street will be lured by a trafficker within 48 hours. We have runaways in our school district from time to time. It is scary to think of several of these students being approached by a trafficker. Many of these young people who are approached will accept the "help" they get and soon be into a trafficking situation they cannot escape from.

 5. The average age of a child victim in human trafficking and prostitution is 13-14 years old. In our district, we have roughly 300 students at that age level.

 6. Speaking of the average victim....the average victim may be forced to have sex up to 20-48 times a day. Young girls and women who happen to survive and make it out of these situations many times need reconstructive surgery, immediate and long-term mental health therapy, and addiction treatment. Even if everything works extremely well, it is tough for these girls and boys to live a normal life due to the intense and long-term trauma they were surviving through.

 7. Most common way a girl gets into trafficking? They are "boyfriended" in. In other words, a "nice" boy slowly gets to know a girl in that age 11-15 range (sometimes older) and grooms the girl. This is many times done online. The girl thinks the boy is her age or thinks he is really wanting to be a boyfriend. Many times the boy is much older, usually a man well past his teenage years. They arrange a meeting and the rest is a very sad, sad situation. The girls typically never see it coming......

 .....But her friends do. Her family does. Her teachers do. Her neighbors do. If.....if they are involved in her life and being supportive and caring and not letting her get down this path. This is why it matters to us here in little ol' Carlisle. We have a chance to not let our girls and boys be a part of these sick statistics. We have a chance to save the lives of some of our young people. But we must be willing to ask questions and not accept "fine" or "okay" for an answer. We must be on social media and checking on our kids. We must know our kids' friends and who our kids think are their friends. We must get in their business....because their business matters to us because we love them. And we must educate ourselves on this issue which has been around forever, but is rapidly increasing due to social media making it easier to "buy and sell" young people, our transportation system making it easier to traffic young people quickly and easily, and our drug and mental health issues on the rise making young girls and boys more vulnerable to being lured into the world of trafficking. We cannot look the other way because this topic is too gruesome, too ugly, too tough to read and hear about. We must turn towards it and towards the solutions because of these things.


 Please click on some of the links below to learn more. I did not know much about this issue 6-12 months ago, but I am glad I am learning now. As a counselor, I have dealt with many students "talking" to a stranger online and many times the conversations have stopped before it got too far. My worry is what if it didn't. What would happen. I want to educate myself and others so we can all help each other and all watch over each other

The Polaris Project

Recognize the Signs

Iowa Networkd Against Human Trafficking

Breaking the Technology Addiction.....How??

     I will be the first to admit it, I might be addicted to technology. This coming from a guy who once said he would never own a cell phone and only finally agreed to get a phone (but not use it!) because his pregnant wife said he needed one  just in case she went into labor. Fast-forward 10 years and 5 kids later, and I have my cell phone by me 24 hours a day. But what really worries me is when my 5-year old son says his best friend is "the IPad" and when asked what he is thankful for, his answer is "IPad!". Um...we have a problem. Fortunately, all problems can be solved or at least worked on. And fortunately, a radio DJ this weekend had several solutions we, as parents, can try. So, if your kids are like mine (or better or worse), here is a list of things you can try.

1. Sit down and have a conversation with them about technology use. And write up some expectations (rules, contract....whatever you want to call it). This doesn't make you bad parents for not laying down the law. Kids will buy into the expectations more if they have some input. They may surprise you with what their limits should be. This conversation should include all types of technology, not just phones or IPads, but game systems, E-readers, etc. But get the expectations in writing so everyone can agree upon it and review it from time to time and maybe update it.

2. Create Tech-Free zones. The dinner table, after 9 p.m., during homework time, church, etc. This can be part of your family discussion. But technology should not interrupt family time or other important times. As for late night technology use, screens are not good just before bedtime. It affects all of us and our ability to fall asleep quickly and have good, sound sleep. Pre-teens and teens don't really need technology in their room, but if they do, make sure it isn't keeping them up at night. Believe it or not, I have several students who wake up in the middle of the night (some even set their alarms!) and play on their phones or watch Netflix from 2-5 a.m.!! Technology is supposed to be useful and fun, not limit our family time or hurt our bodies. These Tech-Free zones might help us all get our families, and our sleep, back!

3. Discuss what Technology we are all using and why? Reading a book on an E-Reader or playing Cool Math Games online....not a bad choice for technology. Playing Call of Duty and killing video-humans or zombies for hours on end....probably not the best choice. Playing candy crush on a smart phone all through dinner versus texting back and forth with a friend who just moved away and had a rough first day at his new school.....pretty easy choice as to which is good and which is bad. Again, technology is meant to help us, not make us into mindless drones. It is no secret that the most popular games have endless levels and give extra lives and powerups. Remember the good ol' days when you have 3 PacMan lives and if you died 3 times you went back to your seat at Pizza Hut and enjoyed your family and good pizza. Well, technology creators have solved this problem by making sure kids and teens can play over and over and over and never quit if they want. A little mindless fun is okay every now and then, but if it is consuming their time and causing other things to not get done (homework, chores), then it is a problem. Not to mention what games, apps, social networking sites are appropriate vs. non-appropriate for certain ages.

4. Be there with your child when they are using technology as much as possible. Not only can you monitor their time, but you can monitor what they are doing with that time. Safe and appropriate use is key as they are learning and consuming technology. We wouldn't let our children drive a car without going through many steps and having us along their side and we wouldn't allow them to work a job without some training and a boss and co-workers supporting their learning, so why would we let them use technology without our help, support, and monitoring?

5. Last, but not least.....reflect on your technology use. I will admit it, my kids use technology a lot because I do. But I am getting better at modeling how I use technology so my kids see this and hopefully follow my lead. This means no phone or tablet at the dinner table, no texting and driving, no violent or pointless video games, and other expectations I want my kids to follow. I do have the urge to do these things sometimes, but I push that urge aside not just for me, but for my kids. Learning by example and observation is what kids do best, so no matter what rules and things you try to do, if you can't stick to them, your kids likely will not be able to either.

   I will leave you with this video which I have seen before, but I saw it on a few sites as I researched for this blog. It is a good reminder why we should not be glued to our screens.

8th Grade Student Needs Assessment

Students, please take the following survey by clicking "Agree" or "Disagree" for each statement. If you need help in an area, click "Agree". That help may be by offering you an invite to a group that will be working with that topic, inviting you in to speak with a counselor about the issue, or by sending you information about that topic. Either way, we want to know what our students need help with. You answers will be kept confidential with only the counselors knowing what you personally marked for answers. We will collect class data to provide to your teachers, but will not use individual names. Thank you for taking the time to do this survey and please stop in our office if you ever need help with anything!!

Back to School Anxiety Support and Resources

With school starting up for staff later this week and students next Wednesday (with Kindergarten and Pre-school after that), anxiety within our body may start to rise. I know it does with me every year and I've been doing this as my career for awhile! Anxiety is natural and normal. Some of us have very little and some of us have a lot. And it depends on the situation. But school, homework, testing, friendships, social skills, teachers, etc. all can cause different levels of anxiety. And nearly all of these scenarios are thrown at students on the first day. So how do you prepare your child (or even yourself) for this first day and each day afterwards? Here are some great resources to review.

Anxiety BC has a lot of great ideas....click here!

Child Parenting also has some great and similar ideas....click here!

And Family Education has some ideas on how specifically to talk to your children about their possible anxieties....click here!

8th Grade Student Needs Assessment

 Students, please mark "Agree" or "Disagree" to all of the following questions. Make sure to type your first and last name in the first box. There are many questions and the survey will not let you finish until you answer each question. Mr. Barry will review the responses and attempt to address "Agree" marks throughout the year. Some of these may lead to some group sessions. Thank you for taking the time to fill out this survey. With so many students and so little time, finding out what each student needs as an individual.

Three New Projects from Carlisle Added to DonorsChoose

 

           With Mike Ermler and Dice Corporation offering to use DonorsChoose gift cards to fund some Carlisle projects, staff was asked to develop some projects that could help kids. Three great projects have sprung up in the past month on DonorsChoose (a great site where teachers can post projects that cost money to get up and running and random people from around the country/world can make small donations that eventually add up and fully fund the project!) and all three received these donations from Mike and Dice. But none of the projects are fully funded yet, so please take a look at each and see if you can help fund them and then spread the word to see if others can help fund the projects as well. Many kids will be positively affected by these projects. Thank you!

Apps for Autism click here!

Cats Fitness Club click here!

The Power of Story Retelling click here!

Des Moines Register's January Feature Topic: Young People with Mental Illness

I have enjoyed following the Des Moines Register's monthly features on a topic that affects kids and families in Iowa. Today's topic made me go buy a couple copies of the issue so that I could share some of the articles with our staff and students. I'm not a fan of the Des Moines Register's policy of only letting you view 10 articles online each month, but I guess that is the way the world is changing. Either way, hopefully you have not used up your views yet so that you can click on the following links. I suggest you save/print anything you want to read later. As a counselor, I have seen more and more mental illness in our young people and it seems the more bizarre and complicated issues are coming up more and more. A typical day may have some conflict and some bullying issues, but more and more, days seems to get filled with anxiety issues, depression issues, students seeing or hearing things that aren't really there, PTSD issues, and several other issues that do not allow the student to have much success in the classroom. At Carlisle, we have a great counseling staff, but many of these issues require much more than an occasional visit with the counselor. And with the number of students we have, many of these students only get 1 or 2 short check-ins or visits with the counselor each week. But we do have other resources we can help parents and families look into in order to get their child more help. The world is changing and for some reason or another, our kids are developing more and more mental health issues. But just like the flu or a broken bone where we immediately get our child checked out, we need to treat mental health problems just the same. We must get our children checked out and we must put just as much effort into getting them healthy as we would if their illness was a physical one.

      Please take a moment to click and read the links from the Des Moines Register below. The first step to finding solutions is education and these articles are very educational.

 Lead story on Mental Health issues in Kids click here! (Notice you can see their 4 previous focus features further down the page and a list of their upcoming topics on the right hand side.)

More Children Suffering from ADHD click here!

Parental Advice for Dealing With Children with Mental Disorders click here!

Mental Health Guide click here!

5 Ideas to Improve Mental Health click here!

Questioning Long Term ADHD Medication click here!

Video of 2 Orchard Place Volunteers Trying to Make a Difference click here!

Writing Those Thank You Notes Can Help.....You!

 


      Well, Christmas and the Holidays are over and 2013 is here. And soon it will be back to school and the march towards summer will begin. Even if you have already made that New Year's Resolution, maybe you have room to make another. Challenge yourself and your family to write thank you notes this year and say thank you to those who have helped. I know my kids have been busy writing lots of thank you notes the past week or so. They were very blessed and got many gifts from many people. I think each child got a gift from about 10 different people. But with 4 kids, times 10 gifts, that means 40 thank you notes have to be written this week. AACK!! But we have a system and we keep the notes short and to the point, but still make them very sincere. And most importantly, our children know how important these thank you notes are. It shows the people that gave them gifts that they are appreciated, they are cared about, and they are loved. But I have also been helping my own kids learn how writing thank you notes can help them. It can reduce their stress, can make them appreciate life more, and can help them later in life, maybe even get them their job. A thank you note got me my first job at Carlisle! But if you still aren't sure and don't believe me, here are some great links to click on to read more about the power of a thank you and why learning this skill at a young age can really benefit both you and the person you thank now and later in life. Happy 2013 and Thank You for reading and following this blog.

Jon Gordon's Thank You Research and Thank you Ideas click here!

Parenting Pink blog's thoughts on Writing Thank Yous click here!

Tanveer Naseer's Business thoughts on Thank Yous click here!

6th, 8th, and 11th Graders to Take Iowa Youth Survey

Students in grades 6, 8, and 11 will be taking the Iowa Youth Survey over the next week or so. This survey is taken by all Iowa 6th, 8th, and 11th graders every two years. It is a comprehensive survey that anonymously gathers data on the current beliefs, values, and attitudes of our students. It will question students on their experiences with alcohol, drugs, aggression, school, etc. as well as their thoughts on these topics. The data takes about 6-9 months to tabulate and send out to the school districts. Sometime during the summer, we get the information back and we can start looking at the data and making decisions about how we can use the data to better our school, community, and county. Everyone from our counselors to our police department to Warren County health services use this data every two years to drive our decisions. Students can opt out of the survey, but the more students that take the survey, the more accurate picture we get. And the more accurate the picture, the better we can serve our students and community. If you have questions or concerns about this survey, please contact a counselor in either our middle school or our high school.

Warren County Health and Safety Fair Thursday, September 13th!

If you read the weekly Carlisle District information in the Wildcat Weekly, you might have noticed this. But it was buried pretty deep, so I wanted to repost it on this blog for those who missed it. Please note the information below. If you can make it, it looks like a great event for families. Spread the word!



WARREN COUNTY HEALTH AND SAFETY FAIR
The Warren County Health and Safety Fair will be held on Thursday, September 13th
from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the Indianola Courthouse Lawn.  Please join us for the following:  

*Fire Safe house presented by Indianola Fire Dept.
*Face Painting
*Free giveaways
*Various health and safety vendors
*Fun activities for kids

*The Iowa State Patrol will sponsor a bike safety rodeo at this time.  Your child(ren) can bring their bicycle and take advanatage of the following:
--Bike safety check
--Skills test on a bike-safety obstacle course
--Free t-shirt 

JC Penneys to Offer Free Haircuts Every Sunday!

   Just wanted to give everyone a heads up about a new promotion that JC Penney's stores are doing. Well, they have done it in the past to help kids get ready for school, but now they are doing it every Sunday for kids. FREE HAIRCUTS!! In this day and age, not much is free anymore, so this is a great bonus and I hope it can help out families that might need this free service. Please click on the article below to read more and notice that the promotion will not start up until November. Hope some of you can use it!

JC Penney's free haircut Sundays click here!

Great Interactive Slideshow Showing Poverty Levels in the U.S.

   Please take a moment to click on this link and click through the 6 slides this website has about Poverty in our country. Many of the slides are interactive where you can learn more by hovering over certain parts. Really makes you think about the poverty in our country and how large of an issue it truly is. The part that really got to me was seeing how children in poverty really make up the biggest population of Americans currently below the poverty level. People are below the poverty level for a variety of reasons, but one reason that jumps out in these slides is education. The less education a person has, the more likely they are to be below the poverty line. Whatever the reason, we need people to help lift people out of poverty, especially the children. At Carlisle, our counselors are always looking for resources for families in need. So, if you are a family in need or find yourself at some point during this year in crisis and in need of something, please contact us. Call, email, come in to see us, whatever, just let us know what you need and we can see if we can track down the resources to help. Also pay attention to updates throughout the year for clothing drives, shoes and boots that fit programs, Operation Backpack, supply drives, and many other programs we help to offer. And again, please take a look at the website below to see the most current data. Thank you!

Poverty Data click here!

Resource Night for Families This Thursday at the Elementary!

 Just a quick heads up that the elementary is hosting a Resource Fair on Thursday from 5:00-6:30 in the Elementary Multi-purpose room. There is also a Book Fair going on in the Media Center and tons of elementary student artwork hung up around the Multi-purpose room, so 3 great reasons to come on Thursday night. Many local groups who support and help families will be at the Resource Fair. Thank you to Hy-Vee for providing cookies and be sure to get your name in for some great door prizes as well. Click on the link below to see a screenshot of the Event's main details.

http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/img/310952-416201263808PM

Also, CommonSenseMedia.Org Reviews Another New Movie: "Bully"

And while some of you are visiting CommonSenseMedia.org, another movie review to check out is the new movie titled "Bully". This movie has been in the news alot because it is a very real documentary geared for kids in school. But, the movie is so real, it received an "R" rating and despite appeals, the rating has stuck. Therefore, many schools are not showing the movie to kids even though the director had hoped that this movie would be seen in schools everywhere. I found it interesting that the movie was listed as a similar age range as The Hunger Games, age 12-14 with caution, 16 and up okay. Language is the key issue as the hurtful words are pretty blunt. But the comments from parents and kids seem to look past those issues and say the movie is too important to not been seen by kids. Please click on the link below to read the CommonSenseMedia review and the 2nd link to see what reviews the movie is getting from critics across the country (hint....5 reviews are in and ALL are positive). Again, these reviews might be helpful if you decide to let your child watch it or even if you as a parent watch it. I plan to watch it to better educate myself on the topic of bullying and to see what all the fuss about this movie is about.

CommonSenseMedia.org review of "Bully"

RottenTomatoes collection of reviews of "Bully"

Variety of Web Safety Websites

As I catch up on my blog reading over the Holiday Break, I found a variety of web safety websites and videos in one short blog entry by Richard Byrne who publishes a blog titled "Free Technology for Teachers". It is a great blog and followed by many educators around the country and possibly even world. But if you click on the link below, you will see some of what he feels are the best web safety websites out there right now. State Trooper Brian Shelley will be in our building again this week to talk about internet safety, etc., so this is just another way you can learn more about it and have a conversation with your children about the importance of being safe while operating online.

Web Safety Resources

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)