HELPING KIDS GET READY FOR SCHOOL

With the news school year just a few weeks away, thousands of local low-income families and their children have begun to worry about how they're going to afford school supplies - or even if they'll be able to get them at all. As every parent knows, school supplies are expensive. As every child knows, it's embarrassing to show up for the first day of school with the "wrong" supplies or, worse yet, no supplies at all. And as most teachers know, it's not always easy to scrape together makeshift supplies for those students whose families just couldn't come up with the money for binders, scissors, markers and rulers.

Hopelink's "Kids Need School Supplies" drive erases all of that for more than 1,700 schoolchildren in north and east King County. Through the community's generosity, children in Hopelink client families will receive a new backpack stuffed with the supplies they'll need to start off the school year on the right foot. To receive a backpack, clients register ahead of time at the Hopelink food bank in their neighborhood (Redmond, Kirkland, Bellevue, Carnation, Shoreline). Distribution happens in mid-August.

To make a cash or in-kind donation, you may go to any of Hopelink's six emergency service centers, call 425.869.6000 or go to Hopelink's secure donation site. For more information you email teresaa@hope-link.org.

Supplies in particular demand this year include:

• Three-ring binders (two-inch size)
• Tab dividers for binders
• Wide-tip and narrow-tip markers
• Erasers
• Backpacks for older kids
• Scissors for older and younger kids (Fiskars is a reliable brand)
• Pencil boxes
• Rulers
• Pencil pouches