Swap, Don’t Shop event to help families who can’t afford backpacks for school

While most students are fresh out of school, Jacklyn Orefice and Gisele Fetterman are already collecting backpacks, school supplies and clothes for the coming school year.

They’re not keeping any of it for themselves. They’re donating everything to families in Braddock.

Mrs. Fetterman, founder of the Free Store in Braddock, saw a need for school supplies in the area and began backpack drives in 2015. They were huge successes, with more than 300 backpacks collected.

“The community depends on these types of drives to get the basic necessities,” she said. She compared the lack of school supplies to hunger.

“If you’re hungry, how can you focus on anything else? How do you feel about yourself? It’s similar with clothing and school supplies. If you are missing the essentials, your ability to learn is impeded, and you won’t learn.”

The organization that partnered with Mrs. Fetterman in the past was unable to do so this year, so she turned to outside help.

She and her husband, John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, visited churches and synagogues asking for support until they met a mother, Debbie Jacknin, and her daughters, Jacklyn and Jennifer Orefice. The three are co-owners of Songbird Artistry jewelry store in Lawrenceville.

“I was moved by how they spoke about people’s needs,” Jacklyn Orefice, the eldest daughter, said. “I was tearing up by the end of it all.”

The three partnered with Mrs. Fetterman for the second annual clothing swap event — Swap, Don’t Shop! People bring gently used clothes, electronics, furniture, jewelry and other belongings to trade with others. Participants must be 18 years or older.

If people donate an item to the backpack drive, the participation fee drops from $10 to $6. The event will be held at the shop on 4316 Penn Ave. from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

People who cannot attend the event but would like to donate to the backpack drive can drop off items at the shop during business hours.

Jacklyn Orefice sees the drive as a way to pay it forward.

“I had the means to go to school because of my parents,” she said. “Now I have the means to give my children an education because of my parents.”

Mrs. Jacknin points out that the

“Sometimes you want big grand things, but you can’t always get that,” Mrs. Jacknin said. “You have to look at the issue right in front of you, and that’s school supplies right now.”

The bigger issue is Braddock’s overall economy. After the collapse of the steel industry in the ’70s and ’80s, the city was designated a financially distressed municipality in 1988. The city has struggled to bounce back since then.

In 2010, the U.S. Census calculated the household median income to be $23,591. The median income for Allegheny County was more than double that amount at $53,040.

The same census estimated that 37.2 percent of all Braddock residents lived below the poverty line, while the state’s average was 13.4 percent.

Alan Johnson, superintendent of the Woodland Hills School District, said that the lack of backpacks is only one consequence of poverty and part of a much larger discussion about the impact of poverty.

“These parents love and care for their children, but they just don’t have the money to buy a backpack,” he said. “It’s not just backpacks. Often it’s food or clothing that theparents can’t provide.”

Mr. Johnson also talked about the stigmas associated with poverty.

“People oversimplify poverty and say it’s because mom or dad is a drug addict, but that’s not the norm here,” he said. “It’s poverty, not laziness, that stops parents from providing.”

Mrs. Fetterman believes that the backpacks are a step in the right direction for Braddock.

“I believe that education can lift people out of poverty, and I want our young people to have an opportunity at an education and leave poverty.”

For more information about the event, contact Songbird Artistry at 412-4275500 or Debo1960@aol.com. For information about the Free Store visit, www.freestore15104.org.