Agency’s school-supply plan suspended

August 08, 2008 03:38 pm

— For the first time in eight years, Johnson County’s Salvation Army cannot offer its full-scale school supply program for children in need of help.
“In the past, the program has been funded by donations, and we used some of our other funding,” Mindie Wilson, with Johnson County’s Salvation Army in Cleburne, said this week.
The office, which she said has provided back-to-school staples for as many as 130 students in the past, has seen cutbacks in funds and can give supplies to about 15 children with money left from last year, Wilson said.
The office has seen a surge in calls for help with other daily needs, said Wilson, who has been with the Johnson County office for almost 10 years. People this summer are hurting worse financially, she said.
“We’re doing at least 15 to 20 new people every two weeks,” she said. The upswing is in calls for rent-money assistance, food, and for help paying utilities. Costs of gasoline and groceries seem to be “eating everybody alive,” Wilson said.
Others are pitching in, including Cleburne ISD, which has an ongoing way to recognize students who need help with necessities.
“We easily work with 100 to 150 families at the start of the school year needing help with school supplies or clothing,” said Lisa Magers, district spokeswoman, on Wednesday.
The Salvation Army uses an application to identify those who qualify by income and takes referrals from schools, Wilson said.
CISD identifies children in need from referrals, Magers said.
“We don’t pick anybody,” Magers said. “When I have a parent, grandparent, friend call me, when I get a referral, I immediately notify the counselor on that campus. We have two top concerns: meeting the needs of our students and maintaining their self-esteem. It’s a very confidential thing.”
Others are stepping up, too, including area churches.
zx The congregation of fewer than 100 at Sand Flat Baptist Church between Cleburne and Grandview gathered “good-size boxes” of school supplies to donate, said church member Sue Clifton.
“What we do at our church is we have a different mission emphasis every month,” Clifton said. “This past month we gathered school supplies. People just brought them and dropped them in the box.”
zx The Cleburne district was a recipient on Wednesday of gift cards for shoes for students from Kroger food stores’ Fresh Step Program. The cards buy shoes at Payless, Magers said.
zx Through its Spirit of Sharing ministry, Field Street Baptist Church in Cleburne bridged gaps for area children, too. “Since Cleburne [school district] does help so many of theirs, we concentrated on helping with school supplies in districts that don’t offer that kind of assistance,” Karen Strayer said. “We try to take care of the people that fall through the cracks.”
zx Southwest Family Church is accepting donations of school supplies and money through Aug. 31. The Women’s Ministry is coordinating the project, a news release said Thursday.
Magers said the district receives anonymous gifts for helping students buy clothes, shoes and school supplies, and many area businessess and service groups donate.
Starting the school year with all the right supplies is not just a nicety, Magers said.
“A big part of student success, especially those first few critical days . . . so much of that sets the tone for how it’s going to go,” she said. “It’s critical our children feel prepared. Anything we can do to help with that, we want to do.”
Magers and Wilson said they will take calls from people wanting to know how to donate school supplies.
“While you’re out shopping,” Magers said, “if you want to pick up crayons, wide-ruled notebook paper, pencils, even a box of Kleenex, you can just drop it by their neighborhood campuses.”
Each Salvation Army office operates on its own finances, meaning there is no deep-pocket corporate headquarters to rescue the school supply program in Johnson County this year, Wilson said.
School-supply packets had been valued at about $80 each last year, and at that price the packets were not full.
“We do the whole list but only half, like if they ask for 24 pencils we give 12,” she said.
The Salvation Army also keeps a food pantry, clothing and donated furniture.
“We give whatever we have,” Wilson said.

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