School supply drives help thousands in Lane County

Twice as many Lane County students received donated school supplies this year compared to last year at Catholic Community Services of Lane County, the organization’s development manager said.

The organization is one of several to provide donated items to families and children in the days and weeks leading up to the start of school, which starts this week for most students in Springfield and Eugene.

“The need that we see in our community is increasing across all of our services. The gap is widening between the haves and have nots,” said Rose Rubin, development and communications manager for Catholic Community Services of Lane County. According to its website, the organization has served Lane County for more than 70 years.

“More and more people are using our services for the first time,” Rubin added.

This year, Rubin said the organization provided backpacks filled with supplies to 205 students across Lane County, up from 99 a year ago.

Rubin said students from pre-K through senior year of high school become eligible for the supplies when families begin receiving services provided by the organization, such as long-term rental assistance. Donations are accepted on the organization’s website.

Catholic Community Services of Lane County relies on partners for help with supply donations, as do other community organizations offering similar help to students and families.

Project Hope, part of the One Hope Network collaboration between dozens of churches and faith-based groups in Springfield and Eugene, each year gives away school supplies to children in need.

This year’s giveaway “served more students, with more resources, alongside more partners than ever before,” according to information posted by the One Hope Network on social media.

More than 3,000 students received school supplies, shoes and other support like free haircuts at events held earlier this month, according to the One Hope Network. Donations can be made at the organization’s website.

One Hope Network listed 37 business and community partners supporting its Project Hope back-to-school giveaway, plus an additional 12 sponsors for its show giveaway.

Support and collaboration are key for such efforts, said Rubin, adding that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has provided school supplies to support the effort by Catholic Community Services of Lane County. 

On Saturday, Aug. 30, parents and children attended a free event featuring a performance by Fooble the Dragon at the Hult Center in downtown Eugene.

At a check-in table, an open box – decorated as a treasure chest — allowed families to donate backpacks or other school supplies, a first-time effort at the Hult Center but not likely to be the last, said Laura Lee, the Hult Center’s managing director.

“We’ve got a few donations, but boy, we could step that up next year and have more intentionality and a longer time frame to be a drop off center,” Lee said.

The school supplies gathered Saturday will go to Catholic Community Services, and Lee said the center could in the future accept donated items for other nonprofit organizations.

Small businesses also help by hosting drop-off boxes for donations.

The nonprofit Escudo Latino this year gave away 125 backpacks filled with school supplies to children, according to information shared on social media.

Rosario Martinez, owner of Juvenal’s Bakery in Springfield, hosted an Escudo Latino school supply donation box in her business. The bakery also serves year-round as a donation drop-off site for Bags of Love, a nonprofit providing clothing, toiletries, school supplies and other items to children in need because of poverty, neglect or disaster.

Children may be living in homes where it’s a struggle to get school supplies or clothing items before school starts, Martinez said.

“They feel so good when they get something that looks good, something new, and then they feel happy when going to school,” Martinez said in Spanish.