A helping hand for students
Published 10:27 pm Wednesday, July 3, 2013
Folks can help Suffolk youth succeed in school by donating school supplies at various points across the city.
Tabitha Franklin, of Suffolk Parks and Recreation, said the annual drive started for elementary school students about five years ago. It was refocused for middle and high school students in 2012, she said.
At East Suffolk Recreation Center, one of many collection points around the city, Tabitha Franklin shows some of the items folks are encouraged to donate during a school supplies drive.
“This is one way we can help parents out,” Franklin said. “Any school-supplies item could help a student in need.”
Collection points are:
- East Suffolk Recreation Center: 138 South 6th St.
- Booker T. Washington Recreation Center: 204 Walnut St.
- Creekside Recreation Center: 1000 Bennett’s Creek Park Road
- Cypress Park Pool: 2001 Arizona Ave.
- Mack Benn Jr. Recreation Center: 1253 Nansemond Parkway
- Northern Shores Recreation Center: 6701 Respass Beach Road
- Oakland Recreation Center: 5505 Godwin Blvd
- Suffolk Municipal Building – Media & Community Relations Department: 441 Market St., 2nd Floor, Suite 205
The city has outlined suggested items, including backpacks, colored pencils, index cards, scientific calculators, sheet protectors, glue sticks, construction paper, three-subject notebooks, five-subject notebooks, highlighters, black or blue ballpoint pens, rulers, college-ruled notebook paper, combination locks, jump drives, dividers, markers, pocket folders, mechanical pencils and two- and three-inch binders.
“We want to aim for enough to help out 100 to 150 children,” Franklin said. “We want to be able to give them something to start them off in the fall.”
Donations will also be collected at TGIF Summer Concert Series events, including those at Constant’s Wharf Park and Marina, and Bennett’s Creek Park.
The Suffolk Office on Youth-sponsored event concludes Aug. 9, and supplies will be distributed, Franklin said, at Teen Summit Suffolk, a free conference for ages 11 to 17, and their parents and youth service providers, on Aug. 24.
The summit will be held at the downtown Hilton Garden Inn from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with sessions and topics including money management, drugs and alcohol, gang violence, parenting classes, a community panel and more.
For more information on the school supplies drive, call 514-7263. On the summit, call 514-7250.
