Share This...   

For some elementary school students, September is a welcome opportunity to show off new back-to-school items – trendy clothes, must-have sneakers and the hottest backpacks. But for many in Allentown School District’s Roosevelt Elementary School, back-to-school necessities, like a new backpack, are simply not in the family budget. Nearly 90 percent of Roosevelt’s students are from low-income families, and the students’ need for new school supplies and personal hygiene items is great, according to Community School Director Katherine Jackson.

Luckily, help is just around the corner. Roosevelt Elementary School is one of the United Way of the Lehigh Valley’s 12 COMPASS Community Schools. This designation enables the United Way to help build relationships between the school and other community resources, including the employees of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network.

For the third year, Good Shepherd employees donated new backpacks stuffed with pens, pencils, notepads, crayons, markers, erasers, scissors, underwear, socks, toothpaste, toothbrushes and other school and personal items. On Friday, September 14, Good Shepherd employees will presented 300 backpacks to the students at Roosevelt Elementary School, 210 W. Susquehanna Street, Allentown. This tops last year’s donation by more than 100 backpacks.