Filling the Shopping Cart for 14,000 Students

Group Buys School Supplies for Needy

By Kameel Stanley

Thursday, August 14, 2008

On a balmy day last week, more than 100 volunteers commandeered the cafeteria at Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston.

For several hours, they navigated trails around towers of binders and tables stacked with crayons while a donated semi-truck and trailer made trips back and forth from a nearby Wal-Mart and Office Depot.

The trucks carried $80,000 worth of school supplies bought by Kids R First, a nonprofit group that has organized the school supplies drive for more than 10 years.

"It's unbelievable," said Ginger Seeley, vice president and treasurer of the group, which was formed by mostly retired teachers who used to spend their own money buying student supplies when they were in the classroom. "There's boxes stacked everywhere. We line three walls of the cafeteria."

Kids R First sent supplies to four schools in 1995, the year the organization was founded. This year, the drive will help 14,000 students at 85 schools in Loudoun, Fairfax and Arlington counties and Alexandria. About a fourth of the supplies will go to students in Loudoun, organizers said.

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Helen Cole and Susan Ungerer, founder and president of Kids R First, sort through boxes to get them ready for pickup from schools. Kids R First have raised nearly $100,000 this year to help provide school supplies to children in need throughout the area. (Nikki Kahn)

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Susan Ungerer, left, founder and president of Kids R First, sorts through boxes in Reston as she gets them ready for pickup from schools. (Nikki Kahn)

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Helen Cole helps volunteers sort through boxes for packaging supplies for 85 schools in the Dulles corridor. The effort was spearheaded by nonprofit group Kids R First. (Nikki Kahn)

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Kids R First, formed by retired teachers who spent much of their own money buying supplies for students when they were in the classroom, have raised nearly $100,000 to help supply students in need. They said prices have gone up by 25 percent this year, in part because many school supplies such as crayons and plastic rulers are petroleum based. (Nikki Kahn)

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Susan Ungerer, founder and president of Kids R First, counts off crayons to package for individual schools. (Nikki Kahn)

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The students will pick up the free supplies at their schools over the next few weeks.

"We are just trying to make sure every child comes to school ready to learn," said Seeley, who used to be a counselor at Chantilly High School. "There's such a need for it."

The money for the supplies comes from various fundraisers Kids R First hosts throughout the year. In addition to the supplies drive, the organization runs a financial assistance program for high school students.

Every spring, Kids R First sends a list of 30 commonly used supplies to the schools interested in participating. The schools check off which supplies their students will need the next academic year. Volunteers place orders in May and meet in July and August to organize everything.x

"When they receive supplies from us, they get exactly what they need," said Susan Ungerer, president and founder of Kids R First. "It's a huge job — huge."

Schools distribute the supplies to students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.

Having the schools handle the distribution allows the students to get what they need without causing them embarrassment, organizers said.

"We never know the names of these kids," Ungerer said.

Often, children who don't have the proper supplies are too ashamed to admit it and end up falling behind, Kids R First officials said.

"They can't come to school and do their best if they don't have the tools," Seeley said.

Ungerer, a retired elementary school teacher from Fairfax County, organized the group while working as a family assistance volunteer.

Faced with families who were struggling to pay essential bills and put food on the table, she realized that school supplies often were an afterthought.

But the drive helps more than just students and their families, organizers said. As a retired educator, Seeley said she knows that many teachers end up buying supplies for students who can't afford them.

"I doubt if there's an educator who hasn't dipped into their pockets for a student. You do what you have to," she said. "We are trying to help the student so the teacher doesn't have to. We're trying to take care of that."

Tagged: education, fundraiser, schools

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