Loretta Mont was holding a different school supply list for each of her four children Aug. 6 as she and three of her youngest approached mounds of donated classroom materials inside the gym at Wheat Ridge 5-8.
Mont, 31, said this is the third year that she has checked school shopping off her list of bills through the Action Center’s annual, week-long School Supply Distribution.
“This is so helpful every year,” Mont said. “It means so much that we have this kind of support in the community.”
Along with the donations of supplies, about $27,000 in financial contributions helped provide more than 5,000 Jeffco Public School students with notebooks, pens, pencils, compasses, folders and art supplies, said Amanda Slates, spokeswoman for the Action Center.
About 450 volunteers helped gather, sort and pack thousands of supplies into plastic sacks that were stuffed and organized into piles based on grade levels from kindergarten to 12th grade.
“It certainly takes a small army to do this,” Slates said. “They’ve been feverishly packing since the second week in July.”
Funding limitations allow the Action Center to provide only one backpack per family, meaning the three present Mont children had to decide who would get the extra treat that day.
William, 8, and his brother Gino, 9, both agreed that their little sister, Gennesi, 6, should be allowed to have the backpack. The small girl peeked over the distribution table at the piles of colorful backpacks stacked up like bunkers around the volunteers.
She spied a black-and-purple pack with zebra stripe trim and a big, glittery purple star in the center. That was the one.
“My favorite part is when the kids get to pick out the backpack,” Slates said. “They say, ‘Can I have Spiderman?’ and there’s a level of personal choice that removes the feeling of it being some kind of handout.”
The distribution opened daily from 10 a.m. to about 3 p.m. Aug. 5 through Aug. 10. There was a line of people waiting at the door every morning, and an auditorium full of people waiting until their turn, which was first-come, first-served, but based alphabetically by day.
Slates said clients are never in danger of supplies running out before their turn. She said the program is meant to be a reliable way to alleviate the pressure of a major bill on residents with fragile financial footing.
According to Action Center volunteer Nira Duvan, 42 percent of Jeffco Public School students are on the free, reduced lunch program. She said the average cost of fully stocking each student with supplies is as high as $100 a child.
“We don’t want any of our clients to have to make a choice between this and rent, or this and the utility bill,” Slates said.
Most of the families are existing clients of the Action Center. Other families were still able to participate in the program, thanks to an expedited process for registering new clients. All they had to do was bring a birth certificate and photo ID.
Other nuances to the program, in its 14th year, included little touches like a thank you card station, chairs for waiting families and an “extras” table where kids could take as many binders, giant pens, pencil cases, paintbrushes, textbooks and book covers as they wanted.
The Action Center accepts donations for the School Supply Distribution all year at 8755 W. 14th Ave. in Lakewood. The drive is always in need of backpacks, loose-leaf paper, thin markers and scissors.
Megan Mitchell: 720-663-9450 or mmitchell@denverpost.com
