Aurora churches seek donations for school supply giveaway

Aurora Methodists are seeking donations of money and school supplies for a giveaway in August.

The eighth annual event will be from 9 to 11 a.m., or until supplies are distributed, Saturday, Aug. 9, at Greenman Elementary School, 729 W. Galena Blvd., Aurora.

Students from Aurora schools are invited to get school supplies and backpacks. They must attend to receive supplies.

The event is sponsored by Wesley and Fourth Street United Methodist churches in Aurora. Twenty volunteers from both churches combined will stage and distribute supplies.

About 350 pupils received supplies last year during the first distribution at Greenman. The first six giveaways were at Wesley.

Needed school supplies include three-ring binders, pocket folders, yellow highlighters, crayons, pencil sharpeners, washable markers, spiral-bound notebooks, black and blue ink pens, rulers with inches and centimeters, supply boxes, round-tip scissors, notebook paper, pencils, pink erasers and glue sticks.

The Rev. John Bell, the pastor of Wesley, said the giveaway is organized by Aurora Methodist churches and businesses that care about the education and health of local children. He provided free doughnuts to students and caregivers lined up to enter last year's distribution.

"This is a community effort to give necessary school supplies to students who could not otherwise afford them," Bell said. "We care that kids should have the tools to learn with at school. We hope to give away backpacks of school supplies to students from all grades from the East and West Aurora school districts.

"We will purchase school supplies at local stores to keep the effort in Aurora," Bell added. "Both the value of the supplies and monetary donations are tax deductible."

For information, contact (630) 896-1033 or info@schoolsupplygiveaway.org.