Events set to help children be ready for first day of school

Thursday, July 25, 2013

While many parents are beginning to shop for school supplies for their children, others are unable to. There are several organizations in Bourbon County that are ready to help those who cannot afford those supplies.

Shoe vouchers

Registration for vouchers to provide school shoes and supplies is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at the Bourbon County Senior Citizens Center, 26 N. Main. For those unable to make it today, registration will continue from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Beacon, 525 E. 6th.

Community Christian Church funds the vouchers, which were originally given by the Beacon. When the Beacon experienced budget cuts a few years ago, Bob Eckles, director of the Beacon, asked the church if they could help.

"We decided to keep it going," said Tim Woodring, a pastor at the church.

The shoe vouchers are for students kindergarten through fifth grade who meet the criteria set forth by the Beacon.

"I go out and make sure Walmart has a good selection of shoes they can get for the voucher amount," Woodring said. "If not, I'll raise the dollar amount."

He said there would be a small amount of school supplies given with the shoe vouchers.

The registration began on Tuesday.

The vouchers will be handed out to those previously registered from 9 to 11 a.m. Aug. 3 at Community Christian Church, located at 1900 S. Horton, across from Fort Scott Community College.

Backpack giveaway

On Saturday, Faith Christian Center will be giving away 300 backpacks and various school supplies to families in need. The giveaway is from 8 a.m. to noon at the church, located on U.S. 69 Highway, 6 miles south of Fort Scott.

It's not too late to assist with the project, according to Gypsy O'Neal, backpack giveaway coordinator. Arrangements for monetary donations for supplies can be made by calling the church at (620) 223-0144. Leave a message and a representative will return the call as soon as possible.

About 50 backpacks will go to families in the church. The remaining backpacks and supplies go to families in the community. Children must accompany those who are picking up the backpacks.

Children will be allowed to choose their backpack, then pick out their favorite colors for notebooks and other supplies.

"This year we have amazing backpacks in all different colors," O'Neal said. "The pinks camouflage for girls, leopard-looking ones, zebra-looking ones, bright colors for the boys and two or three different kinds of camouflage for the boys."

The distribution is available to students kindergarten through 12th grade.

"I think there's a lot of people that sometimes help with the younger grades, but most don't help with junior high or high school," O'Neal said.

Since beginning the distribution 10 years ago, Faith Christian Center has seen an increase in the number of junior high and high school students in recent years, O'Neal said.

"It must be the kids that started in first grade with us. Used to, I didn't see hardly any junior high or high school kids," O'Neal said. "We see the same families every year and they are just so appreciative."

During the first few years, the church gave out about 10 sets of supplies to older students. Now there are 30 to 40 sets of supplies for each grade. That includes pens, pencils, notebook paper, pocket folders and at least a couple of spiral notebooks.

"That gets them set to where they can get started," O'Neal said.