GIVEAWAY — Free backpacks and school supplies like the ones pictured will be distributed to children in preschool through 12th grade during Urban Mission Ministries’ Back-to-School Party from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of the Seventh Street Plaza, 234 N. Seventh St. – Christopher Dacanay
STEUBENVILLE – With the school year just around the corner, Urban Mission Ministries is once again hosting its annual fundraiser to help families purchase necessary school supplies.
Urban Mission’s Back-to-School Party will be held Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Seventh Street Plaza parking lot, 234 N. Seventh St.
Children in preschool through 12th grade will receive a free backpack and assorted school supplies on a first-come, first-served basis. Children must be present to receive the free supplies.
For more information, individuals may call the Urban Mission main office at (740) 282-8010 or email Cynthia Lytle, Urban Mission’s director of strategic partnerships and community engagement, at [email protected]. If a child and parent are unable to attend, individuals should contact the main office for further instructions.
The party is a long-standing tradition and is intended to ease the financial burden on parents that comes with paying for new school supplies each year, Lytle said.
“I am a mother of four children, three of whom are currently in school, and I think we all feel and experience the increase in prices and the cost of living in general. The staff at Urban Mission, many of whom are parents, can relate to what our fellow parents are going through.”
The Christian non-profit organization has around 30 volunteers registered to help distribute materials such as notebooks, folders, paper, pens, pencils, glue sticks and bottles, crayons, markers, colored pencils and scissors.
“It’s about the essentials,” Lytle said: “and we try to make sure that every student gets similar things. We want parents to understand that we can’t cover all the needs on the supplies list, but this is one way we can help a little.”
In past years, backpacks have been filled with school supplies and then distributed, Lytle said, but this year Urban Mission will do more “Trick or treat, but with school supplies.” Children are given a backpack and then divided into two lines – preschool through 4th grade and 5th through 12th grade – and walk down a conveyor belt where volunteers distribute materials.
Attendees will also have the opportunity to connect with more than 20 local agencies in attendance to provide information about their services and possible giveaways, Lytle said.
Among those in attendance will be representatives from the United Way of Jefferson County and the Cardinal Power Plant, which will distribute shoes as part of their own program, Lytle said, noting that people who will receive shoes on Thursday have already signed up for the program.
The answer of the Bash every year can be “overwhelming,” Lytle said last year’s party handed out over 800 backpacks full of supplies. This year’s party will offer 850 backpacks.
Preparations take months, and the party is made possible by the volunteers as well as the many donors – both community members and organizations – who pay for the majority of the materials and backpacks, Lytle said. A major supporter this year was Wal-Mart, which handled and prepared Urban Mission’s large school supply order.
Lytle said: “It’s a great example of the community working together to give the children what they need.”
Urban Mission will continue to accept donations after the party to help children in need of school supplies during the school year.
“We would like to be able to offer this support throughout the school year if needed,” said Lytle.
Lytle thanked Rosalind Thacker, director of the Steubenville Big Red Marching Band. The band will open the celebration at 10 a.m. with a few numbers, as “Year after year.”
Also recognized was Justin Tolman, Urban Thrift warehouse manager and pastor, who will lead the opening prayer.
