Spring Semester School Supply Drive

Make It Happen

• You will first need to decide where you will be collecting funds and where you will be distributing school supplies. If you are at a parish where families are not in need of school supplies, you can team up with another local parish where there is a need. If you are at a parish with a good mix of those who could use the assistance and those who could assist, you can do the collection and disbursement at the same parish.
• It may be good to not have the booth directly in the narthex, maybe in the church office or another building so people will not be too afraid to show that they are in need. You can also ask people to call the office to request the supply package, and then have it available for pickup. Or, if you are working with a parish where there are a large number in need, just make them available for anyone who wants them without mentioning any level of need. In this way it becomes more of an open invitation to all who need school supplies instead of identifying people who are unable to afford school supplies.
• Work with a church to get permission to take up a second collection or have a table after all Masses on at least one Sunday to collect funds. Be sure to coordinate with the church office to make sure there are no tax implications with your collection. Have at least two people available to explain the purpose of the supply drive and to collect donations.
• If you are using a table to collect funds, you will probably need some signage to attract parishioners and give them some general information about what you are doing. Also ask to have the collection mentioned during the announcements if you will be collecting the funds after Mass.
• After consolidating the money and counting it, send at least two people to a discount chain or school supply store (to maximize each dollar) to purchase pencils, crayons, wide-ruled paper, and folders. Keep to these highly used items, as they are most likely to be used up quickly throughout the school year. They also have a fairly low cost, so a lot can be purchased. Also, coordinate with your church to see if you can utilize their tax ID so you do not have to pay taxes on the purchase, allowing you to buy a few more materials.
• Get together a group of people to separate the supplies into “packages.” Suggested for each package is:
  • One box of pencils (usually a dozen pencils)
  • One box of crayons
  • One package of lined paper
  • Two to four folders.
• The cost of each supply package should come out to around $6-7. (Alternatively, you can skip this step and simply have more people available on the day of distribution to help pull everything for each family.)
• Make sure there is an announcement one Sunday prior to distribution. This distribution can happen either at the same parish (if there are a number of families who are in need) or at another local parish who has a larger number of families in need.
• When distributing, make sure to engage with the children asking them questions, for example: what their favorite classes are, what they want to do when they grow up, do they like drawing or coloring?

Ideas

• While putting together the supplies, you can guide a discussion about poverty and our call as Catholics to work to eliminate it. Saints to learn about are St. Francis, St. Gemma Galgani, and even St. Josemaria Escriva. You can also pray that those who need a job to help take care of their families will be able to find one.
• Coordinating with other young adult ministries in the area can help turn this into an annual event, which helps a much broader community. Especially if you are going to distribute supplies with another nonprofit or with a Diocesan ministry, this is the perfect opportunity to bring the larger Diocesan young adult community together.
• If you are unable to distribute directly, try to find another local ministry or nonprofit that does similar programs to both donate the supplies and then also volunteer time to help them distribute.
• Alternatively, these supplies can be taken to any local food bank to be given out while families are shopping for their groceries. It is highly recommended that you volunteer as well to help hand them out.
• If you need more volunteers, you can also coordinate with the high school youth ministry, as many of them need service hours for school and/or Confirmation.