Students In Need Get School Supplies In Lakewood

LAKEWOOD, OH — More than a dozen volunteers crowded into the gymnasium at Garfield Middle School on Wednesday. Surrounded by long, rectangular tables covered with mountains of school supplies, the volunteers buzzed about counting markers and notebooks and organizing everything for distribution.

The group was there as part of the Supplies for Success initiative which collects school supplies for distribution to the district's children-in-need. Preparations were being made to send the collected supplies to all of the district's schools in advance of Monday, when students returned to school.

For six or so years, volunteers have been collecting donated school supplies from Lakewood residents and businesses and then doling the supplies out as needed. In that time, the program has grown significantly, says Karen Lee, chair of the Lakewood Area Collaborative.

She points to one table stacked high with folders. A pink sheet of paper tallies how many folders are in a pile, along with a running tally of how many folders there are in total. This sheet reads "2,848."

"At the end of the day, the district will bring a big truck here and we'll load up the supplies," Lee says. "The truck will then distribute the supplies across the district."

Guidance counselors at the individual schools will be in charge of the supplies. Students will be able to discretely meet with the guidance counselors, request supplies, and receive them as-needed. (Subscribe to the Patch Lakewood newsletter for local news and updates.)

One of the big ticket items the Supplies for Success initiative received this year, in spades, was backpacks. Cox Communications donated 216 backpacks to the group, a massive number that Lee gushes with joy over. She notes that Cox has been supporting Supplies for Success since its inception.

And indeed, roughly half the volunteers in the gymnasium on Wednesday wore deep blue shirts with the words, "Cox Volunteers" emblazoned on them. Rob Brill, one of the volunteers from Cox, says this kind of volunteering is part of the company's culture.

"It's a great thing to see employees taking out their own time to help out here," he says. "We're just happy to help."

The Supplies for Success group will occasionally receive oddball donations, things like staplers and three-hole punchers that students rarely make use of. Those supplies end up congregated on one or two tables and teachers from throughout Lakewood are invited to come in and "shop" the supplies. Anything the teachers are able to use in their classroom, they can snag.

As students return to school on Monday, some will find their need for supplies met by the volunteer group's efforts.

"We felt there was a need in our community," says Lee. "We wanted to serve K-12 cohesively."

Photos from Chris Mosby, Patch