AURORA | Back to school isn’t only a strain on students’ patience, it can also be a strain on families’ budgets. Despite designing school supply lists that can total $25, a typical eighth grader’s supply list can reach more $100. From pencils and pens to notebooks and binders, the cost of school supplies adds up quickly. Many times, too, that $25 budget doesn’t include basics like backpacks or pencil bags — just the supplies to go inside them.
Across the Aurora Public Schools district, more than 69 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. For a family of four, the cutoff for reduced-price lunches is an annual income under $44,123, according to the income eligibility guidelines from the USDA’s Federal Nutrition Service. Students receive free lunches if their parents’ income drops below the actual poverty line, which is $23,850 a year for a family of four.
With many local families struggling to make ends meet, local organizations and schools joined forces over the past several weeks to gather and distribute school supplies, making sure these students headed into their first day of school fully equipped.
On Aug. 1, Operation Homefront Rocky Mountains held its third annual Back to School Brigade at the Buckley Air Force Base, where 500 backpacks filled with schools supplies were distributed to local military children. Charlotte Merriam, the executive director of Operation Homefront Rocky Mountains, said the donated materials totaled roughly $12,500.
“We do this so the kids are ready to go back to school,” Merriam said. “It really helps the pockets of military families. A lot of them are struggling in this economy, so this money can now go towards food or paying a bill.”
Matthew Winkelman, 10, and his sister Emma, 9, proudly displayed their new backpacks at the event.
“This one just looked good,” said Matthew, who wants to be a scientist, of his new brown and gray backpack. “We got folders, highlighters, erasers, pencils … Plus we got to pick out a book.”
His mother, Jennifer Winkelman, said the back to school brigade is a major help to her family. She served in the military for 12 years before her children were born, and her husband is still on active duty.
“It really helps out on the bill for school supplies,” she said. “Plus it lasts throughout the school year as you run out of pencils or glue.”
Operation Homefront, which provides emergency and financial assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors, partners with Dollar Tree each year to collect school supplies for their back to school brigades. This year, Johnestone Supply and eBags also contributed money for the purchase of backpacks.
Clara De La Garza also attended the event with three children in tow: Enrique, Saul and Vera, heading into fifth grade, second grade and kindergarten, respectively.
“These are difficult times, and this is a great opportunity,” De La Garza said of the brigade. Enrique, who has studied Chinese for the past four years and hopes to become a doctor, said he was excited for the new school year to begin and was looking forward to picking out a new backpack.
Two days before the Buckley brigade, teachers from Sable Elementary performed a similar service as they trekked through the rain to deliver school supplies to their students’ homes. More than 88 percent of students at Sable qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, and students aren’t always able to purchase all the necessary supplies.
“We rented a school bus and drove around the Sable community with some random supplies,” said Jen Dichter, the principal at Sable Elementary. “We had a list of student addresses and we just started knocking on doors. Once we knocked on one door, they would know where someone else lived and go get them, and pretty soon we didn’t have to knock on doors anymore. It turned into kind of a community celebration.”
The Sable teachers handed out everything from notebooks and rulers to lined paper and pens, all of which were donated by Prologis, a local real estate company that holds a school supply drive for Sable each year. Nearly 40 teachers helped distribute the supplies, all sporting purple Sable T-shirts that were rather soggy by the end of the day.
“Getting a new backpack or school supplies is a great way to start a new school year; it’s the kids’ way of showing their teachers that they are ready to learn,” Dichter said. “It’s our way of making sure we are starting kids on the right foot. Our superintendent charged us with creating job descriptions, and the last line of everyone’s is ‘My community needs me to do my job.’ I felt that statement was really brought to light [during the event]. Building relationships with students is first and foremost, and it’s important for our teachers to know why we do what we do.”
This was the first year the Sable staff distributed supplies directly to families prior to school beginning. Dichter said some of the parents were surprised to find them outside their doors during the rain storm, but the receptions were all enthusiastic.
“We had a father who’s daughter isn’t even at Sable yet; she’ll be going into preschool,” Dichter said. “He said it was the coolest thing he’s ever seen and that he was very inspired. Everyone we met was just really excited.”
APS also held its seventh annual back-to-school kick-off event on Aug. 2 at Aurora Central High School. Each school set up a table on Ilium Field, where roughly 4,000 backpacks full of school supplies were distributed to students. Each backpack contained pens, pencils, crayons, a notebook, a ruler, a binder, an eraser and a glue stick to lessen the cost of school supplies for parents.
The district purchased the bulk of the supplies, although the APS Education Foundation donated the notebooks and Comcast made a monetary donation. Students were also able to receive immunizations at the kick-off event, and a number of community vendors set up tables with free food and prizes.
“Some kids come to the first day of school with everything, and some kids come with one or two things,” Dichter explained. “Our community really works to make sure that every kid has something.”