Annual school supply giveaway helps local families

For the 17th year, The Summit church, formerly Dover Foursquare, will host a major backpack and school supply giveaway on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 9 a.m. The giveaway is open for local students in kindergarten through grade 12.

Pastor Phyllis Sweitzer said the giveaway ensures children in the area will be well supplied when school starts, regardless of their family situation.

“Younger children get a pack with pencils, crayons, notebooks, paints, glue sticks and things like that. From fifth through 12th grade, they’re equipped with ring binders, pocket folders, pens, pencils and other supplies,” Sweitzer said. “The packs are stacked appropriately by age requirements.”

Sweitzer said the church works with Discount Drug Mart of New Philadelphia in obtaining the supplies. “We provide the lists, and they give us their sale prices for the back-to-school promotions they do,” she said.

This enables the church to keep the costs low. For the backpacks The Summit works directly with the suppliers, and because they order so many, they get a better price, about half the price they would normally cost.

Quality doesn’t suffer in the low prices, Sweitzer said, for important reasons. “We want the kids to have quality school supplies they can use, of course, so we buy name-brand supplies like Crayola crayons, Elmer’s glue, Prang watercolors and other names people recognize,” she said.

Sweitzer said they don’t want kids to find themselves bringing things to school that might single them out as having something lesser or obviously given to them. “They start school with a tough backpack and quality supplies,” she said.

Funding for the school supply giveaway comes in part from area businesses and service clubs, raised through contribution requests.

“That makes this very much a community project with many people coming together,” Sweitzer said. “And we raise funds through our congregation. We put out envelopes at the church marked with differing amounts, and members are able to take those envelopes and fill them with the donation we’re requesting.”

It’s a very simple and easy method of fundraising for the church. Sweitzer said the congregation has always been very supportive of the school supply giveaway, both financially and in manpower.

“People begin lining up at 6 a.m. even though we don’t start until 9 a.m. So we have cereal snacks and games for the kids and coffee for the parents,” Sweitzer said. “Our congregation really makes all this possible. The games and snacks help alleviate the boredom kids may experience in standing in line waiting for their backpack.”

There is no requirement for participating. Sweitzer said the church only asks children come with their parents to get the backpacks themselves. “We want the children to know they are loved and to have the experience of receiving the gift of the school supplies,” she said. “We ask that parents and their kids come together.”

The community need for such an event is made clear by the number of people who come out. “We have had as many as 400 kids and their parents come through, and last year it was about 300,” Sweitzer said.

Those numbers are less, not because there is less need, according to Sweitzer, but because other organizations also have begun to answer this community need.

“This is an opportunity for us to reach out,” Sweitzer said. “It’s important when you see a need in the community you serve that you try to meet that need if you can.”

The Summit is at 302 E. Slingluff Ave. NW in Dover. The office can be called at 330-343-6142.