BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
An estimated 50,000 students K-12 in the Tristate start school without adequate supplies.
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TO HELP
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For information on the "Push for Pencils" school supply drive, contact Crayons to Computers, 482-7095 (9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon Saturday). |
That's the basics: filler paper, construction paper, tape, crayons, markers, rulers, paste, pencils, pens and spiral notebooks. A school supply drive originally sponsored by radio station WVXU-FM for the FreeStore - FoodBank has expanded this year.
The "Push for Pencils" drive will again benefit families who are served by the FoodBank but will also stock the shelves of Crayons to Computers. It's the Bond Hill warehouse where Tristate teachers have acquired more than $1.5 million in free school supplies since February 1997.
"We're in partnership with the FreeStore - FoodBank, and both agencies agree we were the natural fit for the drive," says Julia Helwig, Crayons to Computers executive director.
Collection barrels will be set up Aug. 2-23 at several Tristate locations: All Staples Inc. stores, all Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Borders Books & Music in Springdale, WVXU studio on the Xavier University campus in Avondale, Tri-County Mall, Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Norwood and What's for Dinner in East Walnut Hills.
More than 48,000 Tristate students had received materials from Crayons to Computers through June. Almost 10,000 teacher visits have resulted in an average value of $200 in supplies.
Teachers at 110 Tristate schools where at least 69 percent of students receive free or reduced-price lunches are eligible to shop for free at Crayons to Computers. Teachers from another 55 Tristate schools volunteer three hours in the warehouse in exchange for $200 in supplies.
A 1996 Cincinnati Federation of Teachers survey showed that 56 percent of local teachers spend between $100 and $500 annually on school supplies, and 31 percent spend more than $500 each year. Crayons to Computers was born out of a Leadership Cincinnati class. Shannon Carter, 49, of Hyde Park, a 1998 Enquirer woman of the year, is board president.
The Cincinnati organization is the model for similar free teacher stores in Atlanta; Houston; Orlando, Fla.; Charlotte, N.C.; Sante Fe., N.M., and Scarborough, Maine.
