11 participating in Rotary Club school supply drive

Ten local businesses and groups are joining the Rotary Club of Crowley to help provide school supplies to those in need in Acadia Parish.

Acadia General Hospital, John N. John Trucking, Evangeline Bank, Farm Bureau, Williams Insurance, Southwind Assisted Senior Living Suites, St. Martin Bank, Crowley City Court, the Acadia Parish School Board central office and Bank of Commerce and Trust will help Rotarians collect supplies for the school board to distribute throughout the year to families in need. The Rotary Club will house its box at The Town Club.

The Acadia Parish School Board has set aside funds for the past several years to make sure students in the primary grades (through fifth grade) can start the year with little fuss.

It makes life simpler for parents as students up until the fifth grade can just show up in uniform on the first day of school, without parents having to make sure they have the right number of pencils and pens, the right crayons and so on.

But, as pens fade and pencil erasers are reduced to nothing, or a family moves into the area and needs supplies right away, the school board has, in the past, been left to fend for itself.

For the past two years, the Rotary Club of Crowley, however, has helped bridge some of that gap and looks to do the same this year.

These 10 businesses and the club itself will serve as collection points for supplies until Friday, Aug. 1, when the boxes will be retrieved.

The Rotary Club of Crowley has called upon businesses and its employees to help its own community out for the 2014-15 school year. The club also believes this is a marvelous opportunity for employers and employees within local businesses to get involved to make a positive impact in the community.

Specific supplies being sought include:

• Binders: 1.5- and 2-inch

• Eraser tops

• Pencil bags with holes

• Notebooks: marble and 1-, 2-, 3- and 5-subject

• Binder tab dividers

• Expandable folders

• Colored pencils

• Highlighters

• Crayons

• Loose leaf paper

• Glue sticks

• Folders: with clasps and/or with pockets

• Pencils

• Sharpeners

• Pens

• Graph paper

• Pocket dictionaries

• Mesh book bags

The goal, according to the club, is to relieve the growing need to replenish supplies throughout the year as well as help the school board tackle the school supplies project even with continued cuts to education budgets.

The Acadia Parish School Board provided the club school supplies lists from all area schools to help get the ball rolling and will collect the donations that Friday morning, appropriately, with a school bus. The collected items will be brought to the Acadia Parish School Board’s office, inventoried and distributed to students on an as-needed basis.