LEWES, Del. - Members of the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation gathered Wednesday morning to pack over 300 backpacks with school supplies for students in the district as part of their Caravan of Caring initiative, which is taking a slightly different approach this year.
"Instead of going to each school individually and having the teachers pick out the material, we're going to the social workers in each school, and the social workers will then determine which kids actually need these supplies," Calvin Jackson, vice president of the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation, said.
The support from local community organizations was crucial to getting the backpacks and the crayons, glue, highlighters, and markers.
"A lot of our members, their grandchildren are grown, or they live far away, so they can't physically go out and buy them the supplies they need, so, they take this to heart, and they go out and buy everything that is on the list and are happy to contribute to the children," Joanne Murphy, assistant director at Lewes Senior Activity Center, said.
Jackson says they have been blessed with significant supplies for the students and the teachers.
"For me, this is one of the most rewarding initiatives that we do during the year because, you know, every student deserves to have the supplies they need to really be successful," he said.
The Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation will distribute the backpacks and supplies to the social workers of the nine schools across the district from Wednesday through Friday.
For more information on how to help the school district, visit the Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation's website.
