Back to School 2022, a community-supported program to help children from low-income St. Clair County families have a successful start to school, will take place at a handful of locations in August.
“There are four locations within St. Clair County for St. Clair County children to get a backpack filled with basic supplies to begin their school year,” said Darlene Kramp, Blue Water Community Action community services associate director. “Children are required to be present to choose the color backpack they would like. Families must provide proof that they are a St. Clair County resident. Backpacks are available for preschool, elementary and middle school children.”
The elementary and middle school backpacks will contain school supplies. The preschool backpacks will contain a reading book, a coloring book and crayons.
The quantity of supplies is limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
The Back to School program began in 2003, and Blue Water Community Action took the lead on the events in 2017.
Kramp said organizers begin to get donations to help fund the purchase of the supplies to fill the backpacks in February each year. She said the program relies solely on donations for the purchase of supplies to fill the backpacks.
“We reach out to many different vendors to obtain the lowest reasonable price per item that we need to purchase to fill the backpacks with the basic supplies,” she said. “All backpacks are filled the beginning of August and then given to each site for distribution.”
Kramp said the 2021 events went smoothly.
“Families are grateful for the backpacks helping them to ease the burden of purchasing everything at the start of the school year,” she said. “Approximately 1,300 backpacks were given out in total during the August 2021 giveaway.”
This year, organizers are filling 1,600 backpacks to give out.
The event for the Capac area, organized by McLaren Port Huron Foundation, will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Aug. 10 at Capac Elementary School, located at 351 W. Kemf Court in Capac.
The Port Huron area event, organized by Blue Water Community Action, will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon Aug. 10 at Blue Water Community Action, located at 3403 Lapeer Road in Port Huron. The event will be in a drive-thru format, as it has been for the past couple of years.
Organized by the East China School District, the East China Township area event will take place from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 18 at the East China School District Stadium, located at 1585 Meisner Road in East China Township. Attendees are asked to use the King Road entrance.
The Yale School District is planning on distributing backpacks at its open houses in August. Kramp said those interested will need to check with the district for times and locations.
“With the costs rising of everything in the past year, providing the basic school supplies and a backpack for the children will help out families that may need the extra support to get the children off to a great start for the new year,” Kramp said.
For more information, call Blue Water Community Action at 810-982-8541 or visit bwcaa.org.
