The new school year has arrived, and along with it the need for our youngest students to have the school supplies they need for their lessons.
That has always been the responsibility of the parents, but in the real world and particularly now with our difficult economy, there are too many parents who just cannot afford it. The supplies for those kids must come from somewhere else.
Each of the four local elementary schools has set aside a closet stocked with supplies for just that purpose, which teachers can quietly visit and take what they need to get their neediest kids through the day. Those closets are kept stocked any way the teachers and administrators can manage, but often it is the teachers themselves who buy the supplies out of their own money.
They shouldn’t have to do that, local Democratic women said. To help the situation, they have joined respected community organizations like Thermal Belt Outreach, which  have long been active in funneling supplies to the schools.
The Polk County Democratic Women’s Club held a fundraiser breakfast on Aug. 6 in order to raise funds to help the teachers, and organizers said it was the most successful such event they have ever done. People came from all over the county and the upstate, and the event generated almost $1,500 in donations.
The Women’s Club absorbed all the costs of the breakfast and added funds to make the total contribution exactly $1,500. A check for that amount was presented to school superintendant Bill Miller by club treasurer Frances Parker and club member and commissioner Renee McDermott on Aug. 22.
It won’t solve the problem, but it will help, organizers said, and that is what the community needs to do. The Democratic women said they appreciate all those who contributed and volunteered, and especially the teachers for doing what they do. Time for school.
– article submitted
by Margaret Johnson