Back-to-school is a tough time for many kids. For those who don’t have the right supplies – even something as simple as paper and pencil – it’s even more rough. The Little Red Schoolhouse Project has been helping students in Thurston County be back-to-school ready since 1991. You can help by donating to their annual drive, coming up on August 9, 2024.
“Our mantra is to send students back to school with pride. No child should be handicapped by the lack of tools needed to succeed in school,” shares Connie Fischer of Little Red Schoolhouse Project.
The Thurston County nonprofit provides school supplies like scissors, papers, crayons, pens, markers, pencils and more, as well as backpacks to families in need. The Family Education & Support Services is a fiscal sponsor of the Little Red Schoolhouse Project. They give supplies to approximately 3,500 students a year. In the last 10 years, their budget has been about $50-60,000 a year.
Thurston County School Supply Drive, ‘Radio Day’ August 9, 2024
KXXO Mixx 96.1 has been a contributing sponsor to the Little Red Schoolhouse Project since the beginning. Each year, they do a Radio Day school supply drive. “During Radio Day, the announcers from the station are on air encouraging giving, interviewing donors and giving updates on dollars and supplies donated,” shares Connie. Radio announcers will be traveling to the different sites to interview donors and look for this year’s Capital Lakefair Princess taking donations too!
This year’s Radio Day is happening on August 9, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., or during the business hours of the drop-off locations.
You can drop off new school supplies at all Thurston County locations of O Bee Credit Union and Heritage Bank. Both Heritage Bank and O Bee Credit Union are sponsors of the Little Red Schoolhouse Project.
Supplies most in demand are:
- Composition notebooks
- Graph paper
- Fiskars scissors
- Crayola crayons
- Crayola colored pencils
- Crayola washable markers
- Backpacks
- Scientific and regular calculators
- Ticonderoga pencils
- Rulers
- Elmer’s glue sticks
- Spiral notebooks (no notebook binders)
“Items most needed are backpacks since they are the most expensive,” Connie says. “Students and teachers most appreciate Crayola products, Fiskars scissors and other good quality supplies. Also, dollars, as that lets us buy supplies in bulk for lesser cost.” You can phone in monetary donations – tune into KXXO Mixx 96.1 to get the number!
The Little Red Schoolhouse Project does not collect supplies year-round, but you can donate money at any time. School supplies collected at the drive are given to Griffin, North Thurston, Olympia, Rainier, Rochester, Tenino, Tumwater and Yelm Community school districts for distribution. Some districts may need volunteers to help with distribution, contact the district directly to find out how you can help.
Need supplies? Contact your school in September. For more information, visit the Little Red Schoolhouse Project website or Facebook page.
