HELPERS PITCH IN FOR BUILD-A-BAG
Hundreds of backpacks full of school supplies collected for students
HATFIELD TWP. » Dozens of volunteers pitched in on Monday morning to help make the upcoming school year just a little easier for students in need.
“It was a lot of fun, and it does a lot of good. It makes you happy to do something for somebody else,” said volunteer Nanci McCarthy.
McCarthy and her husband Joe spent the morning sorting out school supplies, picking out binders, pencils, crayons, markers, erasers, notebooks, scissors, and more and packing them into backpacks. All of the supplies have been donated over the past two months by local businesses and residents, as part of a ‘Build-A-Bag’ supply drive organized by the North Penn School District, the district’s Educational Foundation, the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Montgomery County, and the Chamber’s Community Health and Youth Foundation.
“Really, it was pretty amazing. All of our businesses heard about it, and said, ‘Sure, we’ll put a bin in our location, and collect from our customers,”” said April Donahue, Chair of the Chamber’s Foundation.
The backpack donation drive was inspired by a similar drive the district has done in prior years in conjunction with the North Penn United Way, according to district Communications and Development Specialist Kaity Andrey. When the North Penn United Way merged into a
"It was a lot of fun, and it does a lot of good. It makes you happy to do something for somebody else." — Nanci McCarthy, volunteer
larger regional United Way organization, the district decided to organize the donation drive itself, since the need from families has not gone away.
“All of our community partners really pulled together, in a way that you would always hope they would. It was really, really nice to see,” Andrey said.
Each school’s guidance counselor gave the Education Foundation a number of students who will need backpacks for the coming year, and as the volunteers finished packing each on Monday, they lined them up in rows marked for each school: 10 for Penndale Middle School, 10 more for Gwyn-Nor Elementary, 15 for York Avenue and Inglewood elementaries, 20 for Oak Park, 30 for Hatfield, 35 for Knapp, 75 for Walton Farm Elementary, and plenty of extras.
Monday’s packing efforts easily surpassed 300 total backpacks, Andrey said, and the donated backpacks will be given out discreetly by guidance counselors or by registrars as students sign up for school. Extra supplies or backpacks donated will be kept by the district, in case students need more around the end of the year or to jump-start next year’s drive.
“People have wanted to give, they’ve wanted to do this, and we finally are providing them an opportunity to do it, and they have responded, unbelievably,” she said.
Nanci and Joe McCarthy, both in their 80s, were the oldest volunteers on hand Monday morning, and they were among eight members from Montgomery Township’s Citizens Police Academy who stopped by to help out. Jackie Volk of Montgomery Township said she heard about the donation drive through that academy, and she was assisted by her 2-½-year-old granddaughter Harper Martinez and her brother, 8-monthold Colt.
“They’re my helpers. It’s good for them to watch me volunteer, because then they understand the concept of volunteering. It doesn’t hurt to start them early — this is how they learn,” Volk said.
Rob Johnson, the Montgomery Township Police Officer who organizes that academy, said he was impressed but not surprised by the turnout.
“This is a great community.
You make the call for help, and people respond, I would expect nothing less, it’s always been that way,” Johnson said.
The Motte family of Ambler also pitched in, as mom Adriana kept an eye on daughters Josie and Isadora, who attend Wissahickon Middle School.
“It was kind of hard to believe that some children didn’t have backpacks and school supplies, so I wanted them to have that chance, and have all of their stuff,” Isadora said.
“I like to let them know that not everybody has new school supplies all the time, so it was nice to see something for kids that need that help. I’m glad that they were thinking about the kids in need,” Adriana said.
Donations have been kept in the former J.L. Freed Honda auto dealer
at Cowpath Road and Broad Street in Hatfield, and Donald Franks, owner of the dearlership, said he was happy to offer the space in a showroom his dealership left in 2009.
“The best thing is to see how many people are involved. That’s the real key to this all: when you’ve got people interested, and knowing there’s a movement on, and who want to support it, you can’t beat it,” Franks said.
In total, over 35 local businesses and organizations took part in the donation drive, including a donation of nearly 300 backpacks from Costco, a fundraiser held by Bergey’s Chevrolet in conjunction with 92.5 XTU Radio, and volunteers from local scout troops, the MOMS Group of Lansdale, and Peaceful Living were singled out for extra thanks. A family member of school board member Juliane Ramic asked for donated backpacks in lieu of birthday presents, according to Andrey, and district elementary school students also held a lemonade stand to raise money to buy supplies.
Depending on the final counts of collected items, Andrey said the district could offer donations through its Extended School Care program to additional students in need, or to other school districts if possible. Donations can still be made via North Penn’s School and Community Engagement office, by calling 215-853-1032, by emailing andreykm@npenn.org, or dropping off donations at the district’s Educational Services Center, 401 E. Hancock St.
“I actually had the experience of walking in and dropping some bags off, as somebody was getting one. It was really an ‘A-ha’ moment: the little guy had a Spiderman backpack on, and he was walking away with it, and trying to look at it as he walked away. It was the coolest thing,” said Andrey.
“This is going to mean so much to these kids. This is a really big deal for them,” she said.