Back-to-School Help for Appalachia
Back-to-school time is coming up and many parents in Appalachia are worrying about how they will be able to afford paying for school supplies for their children.
Last year, Americans Helping Americans® shipped 4,500 elementary and junior high school kits to our Appalachian grassroots partners as well as partnering with schools with extremely limited funds to fully cover classroom supply lists so families and teachers aren’t required to buy everything.
Among our partners who received school kits last year was Appalachian Ministries of the Smokies (AMOS) in Jefferson City, Tennessee.
AMOS executive director Jean-Ann Washam reported its Back to School Bash provided backpacks full of school supplies to more than 670 children, including some preschoolers.
“The event provided much needed school supplies to our families,” she told us. “Without your support, we would not have these items to give out to our families.
“The children were all so excited to get their new backpacks.
“If we were not able to hold this event, lots of families would struggle to provide school supplies for their children.
“One little girl was so excited to receive her own backpack. —she’s in third grade. It broke my heart that this was the first new backpack she had ever gotten.”
Community Reactions and Testimonials
In Gainesville, Georgia, Mary Mauricio, executive director of our partner, LAMP Ministries, reported that “Our Back-to-School activity was undoubtedly full of a lot of joy, the expression on the face of the parents and the children showed how grateful they were for the supplies they were receiving.”
One of the comments of the parents who attended the activity was:
“We were very worried because everything is so expensive that we will have to decide between food or school supplies; there is no doubt that these resources that we are receiving today are very helpful for us as parents.”
Mary added, “Therefore, for the community in general it was a relief to receive these supplies. There were rows of people waiting for this benefit and we are still receiving words of gratitude for this movement.
“We want to thank you for the back-to-school supplies, it was a great day and we were able to serve 300 children.”
Looking Ahead to 2025
This year, Americans Helping Americans® will be providing 4,254 school kits to our partners in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and elsewhere and supplies to schools in Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania for 4,185 more students.
AMOS will be distributing 300 school kits from Americans Helping Americans® at this year’s Back-to-School Bash to be held on July 31.
“This is in partnership with local schools and the community,” Jean-Ann said.
Mary reported that this year school kits will be given to children in the after school and youth programs and to other children in need in the community.
“The children we serve are from a low-income community. Having school supplies makes a big difference in the school success for these children.
“School supplies coupled with tutoring and mentoring have helped the children in programs feel more confident when going to school and given them a better chance of success.
“Parents of the children in our community do not have money for supplies and we know supplies are essential to school success.”
“The children and teens in our after school and youth programs will be served first as the supplies are an important factor in program success.
“The supplies will also be offered to siblings of those in the program next. Also, a back-to-school event will take place for the homeless children and the rest of the community.
“The children we serve are from families who don’t have money to buy supplies, and some don’t have transportation to pick up supplies. We go to the homes of several children in our programs to deliver the kits when necessary.
“Without this program, the children most likely wouldn’t have had the successful school year they did without this program."
