School Supply Drive serves record numbers

     The 13^th Annual School Supply Drive provide to be yet another success. Individualized backpacks filled with school supplies were handed out to 209 children. This figure represents a 65 percent growth from the number of children served in 2016.

     The drive is put on through the efforts of Cedar/Jones Early Childhood Iowa (ECI), the Jones County Family Council, and Lutheran Services in Iowa.

     People throughout Jones County took donated school supplies to multiple locations, including the Monticello Express and Shoppers’ Guide, the Anamosa Journal-Eureka, Ohnward Bank & Trust in Monticello, Java Jones in Monticello, Grounds n’ Goodies in Anamosa, F&M Bank in both Monticello and Anamosa, Wyoming State Bank, Citizens State Bank in Oxford Junction, Olin City Hall, and Wal-Mart in Anamosa. The supplies donated helped to benefit families with children in grades preschool through high school.

     Sherri Hunt, coordinator for the project, explained the community has really offered a lot of help toward the project. In addition to donated supplies, the project was funded with over $1,200 in monetary donations from a wide variety of individuals and organizations and a grant from the McDonough Foundation. Monetary donations were used to purchase supplies that were not donated.

     “This additional support was huge because without monetary donations, we would not be able to get each child what they need on their school supply list,” offered Hunt. “This is a great project to be a part of. Families are very appreciative of the items they receive. You can see a big relief in their faces knowing that they have what they need to start school and this provides excitement in the kiddos to start school.”

     Hunt said they made over eight different trips to local stores to purchase additional school supplies to fill the backpacks. The program gathers supply lists from every school district in Jones County. Each backpack is filled for individual students, taking into account their grade level and gender. Hunt also said that while shopping for supplies, a lady approached her and gave her $100 to help with the purchase of supplies. “What a great community we live in,” shared Hunt.

     Aside from school supplies, backpacks were donated by Above & Beyond in Monticello and the Amerigroup. “These backpacks provided a big help to one of the most costly items needed for the school supply Drive,” Hunt said. The Monticello Express and Anamosa Journal-Eureka provided in-kind advertising to help spread the word to families.

     “We think it’s very important that every child starts school on equal ground with the right tools needed to succeed in school,” said Hunt of their mission with the School Supply Drive. “School supplies can be very costly and every child should have the same opportunity to be successful when they enter the school on their first day. We can’t thank the community enough for jumping on board and helping out.”

     In Jones County, the Child Poverty Rate is 14.3 percent. This continues to increase every year. In 2000, the rate was at 10.2 percent.

     Almost 40 percent of the children in Jones County are eligible for free and reduced lunch rates. This equates to 1,128 children and their families living at 185 percent or below the Federal Poverty Rate. For a family of four, 185 percent of the Poverty Rate is an annual income of $45,510 or less.