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The Altruistic Alliance of University Women is hosting a school supply drive which will last until Friday, Feb. 19. All donations will be given to Creating Legacies.
Creating Legacies is a non-profit charity organization that has a food pantry and a personal hygiene pantry. They have help provide clothes and blankets to those in need.
“Our aim is to help individuals in Southeast Kansas meet their basic needs, so we try to keep our programs focused on those types of things,” said Tiffany Krause, President of Creating Legacies. “Many of our food pantry clients have asked if we have school supplies available, so it’s definitely something that’s needed, which is why we’d like to have those available for students who need them. Purchasing school supplies is sometimes a difficult expense for families to handle, especially low-income families with multiple children, and we’d like to help fill in the gap to help make that less of a worry for those families.”
There are three collection boxes on the first floor of Axe Library, in the Campus Activity Center in the Bryant Student Health Center, and in the Office of Student Diversity in Horace Mann.
Valeria Estrada, senior in biology and President of AAUW, hopes to be able to help Creating Legacies start up a school supply closet.
“Most people think of school supplies once a year in August, but the reality is that kids need these items throughout the year and it’s hard on parents who are living paycheck to paycheck to provide them,” Estrada said.
This isn’t the first time that the AAUW has hosted a supply drive.
“We held a really successful school supply drive last semester for George Nettels Elementary School and word got out to the community. Shortly after the end of that drive we were contacted by Tiffany Krause from Creating Legacies about holding another drive for their organization. We’re really grateful for this opportunity because we really want to make a positive impact in this community and are glad that community members feel comfortable enough to reach out to us for help.”
According to Estrada, the AAUW appreciates that Creating Legacies doesn’t require proof of income in order to provide basic necessitates for families.
“It’s very important for us to be able to help the community…” Estrada said.
Families in need can contact Creating Legacies at 620-270-2256 or send them a message on Facebook to set up an appointment.
“…Families will not need to provide proof of income to receive assistance, but they will be required to show some form of identification for each student they are requesting help with school supplies for,” Krause said. “Our goal is to have the school supply closet available year-round so that if students need new items in the middle of the school year, we will have them available.”