Fort Mill group helps gather school supplies
One local group isn’t just helping children get ready to learn this summer. They’re teaching their own, too.
Baxter Helping Hands is one of several organizations collecting and organizing school supplies for students. The seventh annual neighborhood effort ran through Friday, with about 50 stuffed backpacks headed for the Foundation for Fort Mill Schools office this week.
“Our main goal is to help local children so they have the school supplies they need to be fully prepared for the school year,” organizer Caryn Johnson said. “Secondarily, it is a nice way to show our children that it is important to give back and help others.”
Between 20 and 30 people each year sort supplies collected in bins at the Baxter community center. Organizers encourage students to help buy and deliver items with parents.
“We’ve primarily focused on high school students in the past because that’s been identified as one of the areas of greatest needs,” Johnson said. “Everybody wants to get the items for the little kids.”
Past school supply drives have varied and included efforts at individual schools and collection at the Fort Mill Care Center. Last year, Foundation for Fort Mill Schools began a new campaign. It collected 200 backpacks filled with supplies and stocked more than 10,000 items needed throughout the year.
The drive returns this year with the goal of having every student in the district ready to learn when school starts Aug. 17.
“When a child starts school with their own set of supplies, they have the opportunity to start the year confident and ready to learn,” said foundation director Lynn Ringley. “With the support of our generous community, we will be able to supply the needs of students who need this kind of assistance.
“Physical donations of items are wonderful, and we also have a need for financial donations, which allow us to purchase supplies when we need to replenish our stock or buy any supplies we didn’t receive during the supply drive,” Ringley said. “Any financial donations above the amount needed for the drive will go toward field trip scholarships.”
Fort Mill families in need of supplies can email info@ffms.org.
John Marks: 803-831-8166, @JohnFMTimes
Want to help?
Drop-off locations for school supplies:
Fort Mill: Fort Mill school district office, 2233 Deerfield Drive; Doby’s Bridge Elementary School, 1000 Dragon Way; Tega Cay Elementary School, 2185 Gold Hill Road; 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday to Thursday
Rock Hill: Rock Hill schools district office, 660 N. Anderson Road, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Thursday
Clover: Clover school district office, 604 Bethel St., 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; Clover Community Bank, 124 Old N. Main St., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; Clover Community Bank-Lake Wylie, 5196 Charlotte Highway, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
York: York District Office, 1475 E. Liberty St.
Lancaster: Lancaster School District, 300 S. Catawba St.; U.S. Postal Service, Main Street, Lancaster; Food Lion stores on North Main Street and Airport Crossroads; and Southern States Chiropractic, 106A N. Woodland Drive, Lancaster.
Needed school supplies
- Three-ring binder, including 1-inch, 2-inch, 3-inch or 5-inch
- backpacks
- non-sticky book covers
- Clorox or Lysol wipes
- colored pencils
- construction paper
- crayons
- dividers
- dry erase markers
- facial tissue
- flash drive
- folders with prongs
- glue sticks
- liquid glue
- graph paper
- hand sanitizer
- handheld pencil sharpeners
- highlighters
- index cards
- ink pens
- loose-leaf notebook paper, both college ruled and wide ruled
- Lysol
- marble composition notebooks
- markers
- clear page protectors
- pencil pouch or box
- pencils
- post-it notes
- rulers
- scissors, both blunt and pointed
- black sharpie markers
- spiral notebooks
- staples
- tape
- white copy paper
- quart and gallon zip-lock bags
Where to send money
Make checks payable to these organizations and write “school supplies” in the memo line:
Foundation for Fort Mill Schools, online at ffms.org or mail checks to the foundation at P.O Box 476, Fort Mill, SC 29716. Contributions in excess of the amount needed for school supplies will be used for field trip scholarships.
Rock Hill Schools Education Foundation, P.O. Box 12286, Rock Hill, SC 29731, or drop off from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday at Rock Hill Schools Administrative Office, 660 N. Anderson Road, Rock Hill.
Clover School District, 604 Bethel St., Clover, SC 29710.
York School District One, 1475 E. Liberty St., York, SC 29745.
Communities in Schools, Lancaster, P.O. Box 3241, Lancaster, SC 29721.
This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Fort Mill group helps gather school supplies."