Friday Feelgood: Drive Thru School Supplies

Though it will look a little different, backpacks full of free school supplies will be distributed at the Salina Back to School Fair.

Families in need of school supplies will line up in vehicles in the cone-marked parking lot around Lakewood Middle School today to pick up backpacks for this year’s Saline County Back to School Fair. The annual event provides a free bag and basic school supplies for students grades Kindergarten through eighth.

The distribution usually happens inside the school. But today, noon to 6 p.m., with precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will look a little different. The distribution will be a drive-thru process, with mask-wearing volunteers.

Back to School Fair Steering Committee Member Daren Neuschafer tells KSAL News at one point it looked like then might not be a Back to School Fair this year.

 

Volunteers have prepared 1,300 supply-filled backpacks for students this year. To be eligible to receive school supplies, students must live in or attend school in Saline County or be enrolled in a school in Saline County and qualify for free or reduced school lunches. Volunteers will be handing out the bags to limit physical contact on the one-day event.

The distribution will be from noon until 6 today at Lakewood middle School.  Neuschafer says there will plenty of signs, and volunteers to help the drive thru process flow smoothly as vehicles exit off Ohio Street to Lakewood Middle School.

 

The annual Saline County Back to School Fair involves collaboration between numerous community organizations and volunteers. It is funded in part through the Salina Community Foundation. Donations can made to the fund by contacting the foundation.

The goal of the Saline County Back to School Fair is that students are equipped with basic school supplies on the first day of school.