Help Start the School Year Off Right for Needy Kids
Donate back-to-school supplies and build a bright future!
First day of school is August 21! Back-to-School supplies are needed to give disadvantaged kids basic tools to keep them focused on learning at school. Here are some organizations that need your help.
Chapman Partnership
This school year Chapman Partnership will provide back-to-school uniforms and supplies to 250 homeless children who reside at their centers located in downtown Miami and Homestead.
Donations can be dropped off now through September at the North Center: 1550 North Miami Avenue, Miami, or the South Center: 28205 S.W. 124th Court, Homestead. Back-to-School 2017 donations can also be made online at www.ChapmanPartnership.org/BacktoSchool. For information, contact Wendy Viciana at 305-329-3003 or by email at WViciana@ChapmanPartnership.org.
Miami Bridge Youth & Family Services
Miami Bridge is the axis point of all Miami-Dade County efforts in dealing with kids in crisis, those who are runaways, truant, homeless or having issues at home. In Miami-Dade County, the Bridge is the only emergency home serving kids ages 10 to 17, providing a full range of services including in-shelter counseling, field trips, in-home counseling and reunification with family.
Donate to Miami Bridge’s efforts by mailing a check to Miami Bridge Youth & Family Services, Inc., 2810 N.W South River Drive, Miami, FL 33125, or call them at 305-635-8953. Visit www.miamibridge.org.
His House Children’s Home
His House Children’s Home still needs help with getting teenagers in their program ready to start the school year. A USB drive or gift card for Target or Walmart will provide a teenage student with something they need to start the school year fresh. Underwear for teenage girls and boys is also needed.
For more information in filling unmet needs, please contact Development Manager Sandra Sanchez at 305-430-0085, Ext 225, or through email at SSanchez@HHCH.org.
Ayuda
AYUDA is celebrating its 40th anniversary. This community-based non-profit organization based in Miami Beach has served over 200,000 children, adolescents, adults and elderly. Their youngsters need backpacks, pencil cases, crayons, markers, construction paper, white copy paper and water-based paints.
Drop off at Ayuda Miami, 7144 Byron Avenue, Miami Beach. Call 305-864-6885 for information or visit the website at www.ayuda-miami.org.
Family Resource Center
Every summer, Family Resource Center provides backpacks full of school supplies for the upcoming school year to all of the school-aged children in foster care. This year 900 backpacks are needed! There are different ways to get involved.
Make a cash donation to FRC for the purchase of school supplies. All donations are needed and appreciated, but $25 will cover a backpack and all supplies for one child. You can also contribute school supplies from the wish list below or host your own backpack drive at your workplace, church, or community organization.
Items needed for school: backpacks, calculators, colored pencils, compasses, composition books, divider sets, erasers, glue sticks, graph paper, hand sanitizers, highlighters, index cards, crayons, pencils, manuscript pads, markers, notebooks and notebook paper, pencil cases, pencil sharpeners, protractors and rulers, scissors and 2-pocket folders. Donate online at www.FRCFlorida.org or mail a check to: Family Resource Center, 1393 S.W. 1st Street, Miami, FL 33135. Contact Melissa Chiu at MChiu@FRCForida.org for information about hosting your own drive.
Overtown Youth Center
Overtown Youth Center wants to ensure that its students have what they need to learn and succeed in school. Help OYC continue to inspire, empower and enrich the lives of our future leaders.
Needed are USB drives, pencils and sharpeners, spiral notebooks, calculators, dictionaries, erasers, folders, crayons, ruled paper, 3-ring binders, markers and rulers.
A $65 donation provides a youngster with 3 uniforms and a backpack. Contact Yance Torres at 305-349-1204, Ext. 228, or by email at Yance.Torres@OvertownYouth.org. Or visit www.OvertownYouth.org.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade
Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade, which started as a single building for boys, has grown to five clubs now serving thousands of boys and girls year round. Boys & Girls Clubs of Miami-Dade is seeking donations of backpacks, pencils and pens, pencil cases, markers, notebooks and other essential school supplies.
Donations can be dropped off at the Hank Kline Club, 2805 S.W. 32nd Avenue, Miami. For more information on Boys & Clubs of Miami-Dade, visit www.BGCMia.org.
Support Our Schools: Fill the Bus
Communities in Schools of Miami has joined forces with Cushman & Wakefield to ensure that Miami-Dade County students are prepared for the upcoming school year through the annual CIS Fill The Bus Supply Drive.
Cushman & Wakefield has been collecting school supplies for underprivileged students all summer and encourages the local community to donate supplies during the drive. On August 9 the CIS and Cushman & Wakefield teams will fill an actual school bus with all of the supplies they have collected, including notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, rulers and folders. The back-to-school supplies will then be distributed to more than 15 schools in Miami-Dade County.
Help Fill the bus and drop off contributions Wednesday, August 9,from 10 a.m. at 6100 Blue Lagoon Drive in Miami. For more information on donating, visit www.CISMiami.org.
Doral Chamber of Commerce
The Doral Chamber of Commerce wishes to help alleviate the financial strain of buying all the necessary tools for children to attend school. Their goal is to provide completely filled Pre-K – 12th Grade backpacks to under-served children in the community.
Through August, the DCC is collecting backpacks and filling them with pens, pencils, scissors, markers, crayons, colored pencils, notebooks, binders, pencil cases, dividers, erasers, scotch tape, sharpeners, pocket folders, 3×5 index cards, highlighters, rulers, calculators, loose-leaf paper paperclips and glue.
Donations can be dropped off through August 10 at Total Bank Doral, 9690 N.W. 41st Street, Doral. For more information or to register, visit www.Doral Back-to-School.
The Rick Case “Drive for Supplies”
As Broward County starts its new school year, community leaders The Rick Case Automotive Group, Pembroke Lakes Mall, Publix Super Markets and Easy 93.1 Radio have joined hands to help 12,500 children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County through the “Drive for Supplies” Collection program August 7 – 27.
School supplies are needed for ages 6 to 18, including: notebook paper, copy paper, construction paper, pencils, #2 and colored, pencil cases, sharpeners; pens, crayons, colored markers, dry erase markers, thumb drives, 3-ring binders, folders, report covers, erasers, rulers, back packs or string bags, hand sanitizer, tissues, Post-It notes, spiral notebooks, composition books, glue sticks, lanyards, highlighters, and index cards,
Drop off school supplies at any Rick Case Automotive dealerships and The Pembroke Lakes Mall. For more information on “Drive for Supplies” donations, visit the Easy93 website and Facebook site for “community connections” or contact Stan Bostic at StanBostic@RickCase.com. For more information on Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County, call 954-537-1010 or view the website at www.BGCBC.org.
Onelia Collazo Mendive is the founder and publisher of GablesCentral.com, a news and culture website covering Coral Gables. She has covered the City of Coral Gables in print and online publications for almost a decade. She has particular interest in the Golden Gate and MacFarlane Homestead Historic District of Coral Gables. Onelia has covered the internet industry since 1999 and has worked as a web editor for various websites. She has covered the arts and cultural scene in Miami since 2007. In addition, she was awarded a National Press Foundation Fellowship for editors and writers program on E-commerce from Vanderbilt University in 1999, and was named a Fellow for the Knight Community Info Challenge Boot Camp in 2012. Onelia co-organizers a monthly Read to Learn Reading Circle and book drive in conjunction with The Children’s Trust, The Miami Book Fair and Books & Books. The Read to Learn Books for Free donates children’s books to 40 bookshelves in Miami including DCF, juvenile hall, and doctors’ offices. She graduated from Florida International University in 1995 with dual degrees with a BA English Literature and a BS in Communications.
