Good Deed Opportunity: Help Local Kids Go Back to School Prepared with Supplies

For kids, fall brings the excitement of returning to class, which new sneakers will be a hit and the thrill of new school supplies—the colorful pencils, folders with favorite Disney characters and glue sticks galore. 

Fall should be a fun time for kids eager to return to school, but it it can also be a hardship on parents. Today parents face $50 of school supplies or more per student, and for many families in the community this is a difficult struggle.

Western Communities Action Network (WeCAN) is collecting new school supplies for children throughout the area. Last year WeCAN provided over 220 children with the supplies they needed to be “Ready to Learn.” 

WeCAN’s Ready to Learn program cannot happen without the generosity of the community, and collection boxes will be at the following locations through August 12:  

• Bank of Maple Plain
• Bethel Methodist
• Brighton Bay Café
• Caribou
• Crow River Bank
• Christ Lutheran Church
• First Presbyterian (Maple Plain)
• Freshwater Church (St. Boni)
• Gillespie Center
• Good Shepherd Church
• Jubilee
• Klein Bank (St.Boni)
• Lyndale Lutheran (IN)
• Main Street Covenant Church
• Mt. Olive Lutheran
• Mound Evangelical Free
• Our Lady of the Lakes
• River Valley Church
• St. Boniface Church
• St. John’s Lutheran
• St. Martin’s by the Lake
• St. Boniface City Hall
• TCC (Mound Verizon store) 
• Wells Fargo (Mound)
• West Lakes Dentistry
• the WeCAN office

Items that are most in demand include backpacks (for all ages), pocket folders (plastic and paper), composition notebooks, art sketch books, one-inch three-ring binders, 1.5-inch three-ring binders, dry erase markers, flair/felt tip black pens, disinfectant wipes, boxes of tissues, ziploc bags (gallon & quart).

Supplies will be distributed to families in the WeCAN service area at the WeCAN office on Tuesday, August 20, 9am to 6pm and Thursday, August 22, from 9 am to 4pm. 

Recipients should have custody of children entering grades K-12 during the 2013-2014 school year and bring the following: ID for parent/caregiver, proof of address (lease, utility bill from past 30 days) and ID for each child receiving school supplies (school ID, or report card from 2012-2013).   

WeCAN is in need of volunteers to help organize and distribute supplies.  If you have any questions or would like to volunteer, please contact WeCAN at 952-472-0742 or visit them online at www.wecan-help.org.