School Supplies Still Needed Salvation Army Needs Donations To Help Hundreds Of Kids

Unless donations pick up dramatically in the next couple of days, hundreds of children in the greater Ogdensburg area may be starting the school year without some of the supplies they need.

Ogdensburg Salvation Army Captain Dorothy A. Budd said that as of Thursday afternoon, they had enough supplies to fill just over 200 backpacks, less than a third of the 650 backpacks that they had purchased using money from their annual Red Kettle campaign.

"Some kids may only get half-full bags," she said, "But we are trying to at least get them the basic essentials."

As volunteers worked stuffing the backpacks Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Budd said that some of their most needed items were pencil boxes or pouches, rulers, red pens, filler paper, dry erase markers, pencil sharpeners, and as she was reciting the list a volunteer shouted, "We just ran out of scissors."

Other supplies that were on the brink of being gone included highlighters, white glue (not glue sticks) and blue pens.

"Those are the things that aren't going to be in some of the bags," she said.

While all of the bags may not be filled, Mrs. Budd did say that each of the bags would at least have some school supplies in them.

"Every bag will have something," she said.

When people pick up supplies on Tuesday, Mrs. Budd predicted the backpacks will go fast.

"I think we're going to run out," she said.

Distribution will be on Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. or until they run out of bags. And to help with what Mrs. Budd anticipates to be a rush Tuesday morning, numbers will be placed on the door Monday night, with the bags being distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

In order to receive supplies, adults should bring a photo ID, as well as a copy of the welcome letter from their child's school.

And while these tough times have undoubtedly led to the decline in donations, they have also led to an increase in need that has far surpassed anything Mrs. Budd has seen before.

"We've had more calls from people who need school supplies than I could have possibly imagined," she said, adding, "That's what happened at the Stuff-A-Bus. We had more people asking when they could get school supplies than we had donating."

If you would like to help a child go back to school with a smile on their face there is still time to help, but all donations should be dropped off at the Salvation Army before 3 p.m. on Monday, Mrs. Budd said.

"We're trying to make things stretch as far as we can," she said.