Westfield Baptist Church and the Westfield Volunteer Fire Department are joining together to host a community Back To School Supply Drive.
According to WBC Secretary Tricia Lowe, the organizations will be collecting school supplies from now through Aug. 9. On Aug. 15, small backpacks filled with the supplies will be handed out to community residents.
“This was inspired by the fire department’s annual Christmas toy drive,” Lowe said. “We saw the need they had been addressing and we wanted to join with them for a community outreach project for the start of the school year.”
“With so many parents out of work, we knew the start of school could be stressful. With the pandemic causing so many changes, there could be a real sense of urgency for many. We wanted to offer a little hope in a dark time,” she continued.
According to Lowe, the church and fire department will be working together to collect pencils, pens, loose leaf paper, composition books, crayons, markers, stickers, folders, colored pencils, highlighters and pencil pouches. Early donations have lessened the need for pencils and loose leaf paper.
Donations may be made by purchasing supplies at the Family Dollar Store in the Westfield community and leaving them in a marked bin at the store.
An Amazon “wish list” has also been set up and may be accessed through the church web site at www.westfieldbaptistchurch.org. Purchases will be sent directly to the church.
Supplies may be dropped off at the fire department on Sunday afternoons or at the church office during the hours of 9 a.m. -3 p.m., Monday through Thursday. The church’s address is 6713 Westfield Road, Westfield, while the fire department is located nearby at 3386 Old Westfield Road. The Westfield community Family Dollar Store is located adjacent to the fire department.
Donations may be made payable to Westfield Baptist Church with a memo noting that it is for the school supply drive.
The project goal is to collect supplies to fill 100 backpacks for distribution.
“We really appreciate Family Dollar for helping with this and for the way they always help the fire department with the Christmas toy drive,” Lowe said. “We’re excited about this and believe it will be a good way of helping to meet needs right here in our back yards.”
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com