61 Stamford Students To Receive Backpacks Full Of School Supplies

STAMFORD, CT — Organizers of a school supply drive in Stamford are looking to get students key items to start the year, and save teachers and families some money in the process. On Thursday, Stamford-area Allstate agency owners and the Stamford Public Education Foundation will visit Hart Magnet Elementary School and distribute backpacks filled with school supplies to 61 students between the ages of 4 and 5.

The school supply drive is part of a multi-state initiative through the Allstate Foundation's "Good Starts Young" program.

"We've gathered about 90 backpacks and we're filling them with school supplies to provide to the students," Norwalk Allstate agent David Gonzalez said to Patch, "pencils, glue sticks, rulers and other miscellaneous things they need to start the school year off, along with a brand new backpack."

According to Gonzalez, five agency owners and seven staff members worked collectively to get all the backpacks and supplies.

"The Allstate Foundation is all about giving back to the local community in partnership with agency owners," Gonzalez said. "I bought 20 backpacks and filled them...some agencies are just providing pencils, and some are just doing whatever they can."

The kids receiving backpacks Thursday are all attendees of SPEF's six-week Summer Start program, which helps prepare incoming kindergartners for the beginning of the school year.

SPEF is a private non-profit organization that supports the public schools by providing a variety of different programs and resources for students and families. Their four areas of focus are kindergarten readiness, enrichment programming, family engagement programming and college and career readiness.

Gonzalez said the event is aimed at alleviating some of the anxiety that can come with starting the school year, as well as possibly saving parents and teachers some money.

"Teachers spend an average of about $500 out of their pocket throughout the school year to supply miscellaneous things," Gonzalez said. "We're hoping that we help prevent teachers from coming out of pocket."

SPEF CEO Matt Quinones, who helped plan and organize the event, agreed that teachers will sometimes use their own money to purchase additional supplies for their classrooms.

"I think if you looked at a variety of different...organizations and efforts, teachers are consistently soliciting for additional support to help with supplies and have a general narrative about having to come out of pocket," Quinones said, "With an organization like ours that's focused on education, we have an opportunity to put supplies in the hands of kids so teachers and parents don't have to come out of pocket for them. It's a win-win."

Allstate will also present SPEF with a $5,000 donation toward their mentoring initiatives, which supports students in grades 3-12. Quinones said SPEF is hoping to support over 1,000 students with their mentoring programs during the upcoming school year.