Free school supplies help area students

"It's great," said Taboada, who was among the 1,500 students in Elgin Area School District U-46 who received a backpack from the Kids in Need Foundation and Newell Rubbermaid. "I have some but not all of the supplies. This will help me do my homework and everything."

U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres, as well as principals from Ontarioville Elementary and Parkwood Elementary (also in Hanover Park) joined Kids In Need and Newell Rubbermaid representatives in handing out hundreds of backpacks to unsuspecting students at Ontarioville. About 200 homeless students in the district also received supplies. A $30,000 grant from Rubbermaid helped the Kids In Need Foundation equip the students for the new school year. The foundation provides free school supplies to students across the country.

Lynne Huske, the district's manager of communications support, said the Hanover Park area is often overlooked.

"There was a big back-to-school event at Elgin Community College, but that's on the west side of Elgin," Huske said. "There is nothing for this part of the district."

Each backpack contained pens, pencils, crayons, a ruler, glue stick, notebooks, folders and erasers.

"These supplies will provide all of the materials that students will need well into the school year, and our families will not have to worry about the costs of replacing or buying additional supplies," Torres said. "We are grateful for the generous response to the needs of children ... The learning experience of these 1,500 children will be enriched and the knowledge that others care about them will be remembered."

Students in Yadira Uribe's bilingual kindergarten glass smiled shyly and said "thank you" as they collected their backpacks from the front of the classroom. Girls gravitated toward the pink and purple bags, while boys grabbed for gray and blue backpacks.

The youngsters then excitedly took an inventory of the bag's contents.

Myrna Burgos, principal at Ontarioville Elementary, said more than 90 percent of the students at her school, as well as Parkwood, are enrolled in the free or reduced lunch program, which is a federal measure of poverty.

"That means that 90 percent of our families struggle providing basic needs, much less having to deal with all of the other resources that they need to help their children live and grow in a safe environment and to be able to extend learning at home," said Burgos. She said the contribution was a huge step toward enabling students to obtain the tools they need to continue their learning at home.