Amarillo Rainbow Room works to provide for 600 youth with Back to School Supply Drive

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services' Amarillo Rainbow Room is hosting its annual Back to School Supply Drive, collecting community donations now through Aug. 31.

According to Jenn Sugg, Rainbow Room Coordinator, this year the drive is working to provide school supplies for 600 of the children and young adults they serve. With the supply drive, the organization has been able to raise more than 600 backpacks and some of their needed supplies for area children enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12th.

Each day, volunteers work to fill some of the backpacks for each grade level as needed by the children they serve. Currently the organization is seeking donations of one-inch, three-ring binders and composition notebooks. Additional items that are being accepted in the supply drive include pencils, pens, notebooks, glue, rulers, folders, calculators, and backpacks.

"We are just trying to supply each child with what they need to start off the year, and then as they need more, we can address that ... because my goal is 600 and the school supply list calls for 72 pencils per student, we give each of them 12 pencils to get them started. If in a month, and if we receive more donations, we can give them more as needed, but our goal is just to get every child prepared for that first day and month of school," Sugg said.

According to Sugg, their need for school supplies and items in general has grown since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, Sugg said the organization supplied back to school items for less than 300 children; this year, they are serving more than 600 children, with a goal to have school items prepared for each one of them.

"We just want to make sure all the kids that have endured worse abuse and neglect, that they don't have that extra worry, and they can sleep the night before going to school and feel excited with their brand new things to learn with and look like everyone else in the classroom," Sugg said.

Sugg said that for many of the children, this is one of if not the first time they have received new items to call their own. Because of this, Sugg and volunteers make sure to leave the tags on the new items, which often means that much more to the children.

The supply drive also received duffle bag donations that the Rainbow Room coordinator plans to give to the older children participating in athletics to carry those related items.

In addition to the school supply items, the Rainbow Room works to provide children with a few new clothing items for the new school year, including socks, shoes, underwear, pants, shorts, shirts, deodorant, hygiene products and more.

Monetary and supply donations are being accepted at the Texas Department of Family and Protection Services office location in Amarillo at 3521 SW 15th Ave.

Donors can also purchase items off of their Amazon wish list online at https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/33BX2EEJSQVVR?ref_=wl_share&fbclid=IwAR3DY6og_5sOG7qMKyzT6lXP1HCnco7hiynQ-nRxDaYY0vP8dvuYDqlPNQI

For more information about the Rainbow Room, visit them online at https://www.handsonamarillo.org/agency/detail/?agency_id=55810 or follow them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rainbowroomamarillo

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo Rainbow Room gathers donations for back to school supplies