It’s hard to keep a good thing quite. What started as an idea in our Tacoma Business Leaders group quickly blossomed to a foundation wide event. The fact is 80% – 90% of students at Stewart Middle School in Tacoma are on a free meal or reduced lunch program. LRF’s Tacoma group brought it upon their self to help bless these students with new Backpacks and school supplies.

Organized by Nicole Aguilar, Coordinator for Safe Families for Children (an Olive Crest Program), this program will run over the next 30 days.

 

A large number of families at Stewart Middle School in Tacoma are single mothers working multiple jobs to try to provide and care for their children.

“Jen is just one of these mothers. She has four children and her oldest son, Jacob, attends Stewart. Jen works at the local Fred Meyer and picks up every available shift she can to make ends meet for her family, leaving Jacob to care for the younger siblings while she works night and weekend shifts. Through the Family Resource Center, Jen has been able to attend one or two of our parent education nights, connect with other local parents, and have access to resources such as coats/shoes, etc.”
“Another growing demographic at Stewart is grandparents raising their grandchildren. One grandmother, Helen, has taken on five of her grandchildren to prevent them from going into the foster care system. Two of them, Rachel and Kira, attend Stewart. As someone in her late 70’s with an extremely limited income, it’s exhausting for Helen to keep up with the daily care, transportation, and school work of five children. Even simple things like providing uniform clothes, shoes and after school services for this family have made a huge impact!”

Nicole Aguilar – Olive Crest Safe Families Coordinator

Here’s how you can help:

We are collecting donations of backpacks and school supplies to help the students at Stewart Middle School in Tacoma get the best start to their school year!
School Supply List Per Child

  1. Backpack
  2. Pencils (mechanical or wooden)
  3. Yellow Highlighter
  4. Pencil Pouch
  5. 6 – Single Subject Spiral Notebooks
  6. 3-Inch 3-Ring Binder with Dividers
  7. Basic Function Calculator (less than $10)
  8. Notebook Filler Paper – College Rule
  9. 6 Ballpoint Pens: (2 each black, blue and red)
  10. Composition Book (Stitched, 9 3/4 x 7 1/2)

Cash donations are appreciated!  We will do the shopping for you!

Other recommended ideas
(these are shared in the classroom):

  1. Colored Pencils
  2. Pocket Size Tissue Packages
  3. Small Pair of Scissors
  4. Ruler
  5. Graph Paper
  6. Glue Sticks
  7. (No Sharpie Pens or Permanent Markers)

“When we raise 100 backpacks, this will provide new backpacks for 25% of the students at Stewart Middle School” – Nicole Aguilar

stewart middle school

Stewart Middle School in Tacoma

Additional Event Detail

Who: Liberty Road Foundation, Olive Crest, Stewart Middle School & YOU!

What: Backpack drive

Where: Your local LRF Business Leaders Breakfast

Why: Give blessings to our local community and under privilege youth.

When: We will be collecting  backpacks over the next 30 days at each group location. One month is extended form the first meeting date of each group.