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A five-vehicle caravan carrying backpacks for Campbell County, Tennessee children rolled away from Knoxville St. James' Episcopal Church on August 8th. The packs - filled with supplies for student in Campbell County's 15 schools - were collected through the Appalachian School Supply Program, a volunteer project of the Diocese of East Tennessee's Appalachian Ministries Resource Team initiated by the non-profit community agency Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties. |
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Now three years old, the program has grown from about 100 backpacks to this year's 668 packs, extra supplies for teachers and $3,000 to be divided among the schools. |
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Backpacks are filled with basic school supplies - crayons, glue, paper, binders, notebooks, pencils, etc. - and stocked based on requirements for students in primary, intermediate, middle and high school. |
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The cost to fill a pack is between $20 - $25 although volunteers often tuck in extra supplies. Filled packs came from Episcopal churches through the diocese. St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Poolesville, Maryland supplied 65 and contributed 10 computers for county schools. |
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The backpacks went directly to 13 primary and intermediate schools where principals or counselors will get them to students in need. Supplies for the two high school went to two community groups for pickup by families whose older students might be reluctant to receive the materials at school. |
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Campbell County, about a 40-minute drive from Knoxville, is one of Tennessee's poorest counties. Sixty-four percent of its students qualify for free or reduced cost lunches. Ninety-eight percent of the children attending the four schools in the county'' northernmost end qualify for the lunch assistance program. |
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"One parent told us that when school time comes, sometimes it's a choice between going to the grocery store or buying school supplies. So this makes a big difference," says Patty Chase, coordinator of the project. |
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She adds that churches in other Appalachian counties in the diocese have told her that collecting supplies for Campbell County has made their members more aware of the needs in their own areas. "So maybe next year, they will give so many backpacks to Campbell County and so many to the children in their local area. That's one of our goals - to increase awareness." |
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