Fifty-six percent of the students in grades preschool through 2nd grade qualify for free or reduced lunch at Stewart Elementary in Washington.

For parents of these students and others in the community it can be difficult to afford school supplies, for which a school supply drive is happening in Washington. This is the second year of the Beemblossom Backpack Benefit, organized by Halcyon House. The benefit is named after the late Reta Beemblossom, a former Washington Community School District teacher and Halcyon House resident who would frequently donate school supplies to support students at Stewart Elementary.

Beemblossom’s daughters Veta Thode and Jean Knowles are proponents for the drive, as Knowles mentions the costs of affording school supplies, “It costs approximately $55 to purchase all the supplies for a kindergarten student and for first grade $43, and second grade $42. So you can see how that would add up kind of quickly and when your budget is for your basic needs; heating, cooling, groceries, and things like that, then this on top of it is kind of an extra burden that some families are not always able to manage.”

Nearly $6,000 in monetary and supply donations combined were collected in last year’s drive. Thode says students facing poverty and homelessness are not always in plain sight, “This last school year we had 120 students who were considered homeless. And homeless is not the typically homeless, that’s not the only homeless, but that could be doubled up, it could be transitional housing. And that is actually 6.5% of our student population has been considered homeless sometime throughout the last school year.”

School supply lists can be found at the Washington Walmart, and donations can be left at the Applewood Bistro, Halcyon House front office, or Lending Hands Adult Day Center until August 17th. Monetary donations can be mailed to Halcyon House at 1015 South Iowa Avenue in Washington. The donations will be used to fill up backpacks to be given to any Washington student in need, and expenses for high school students such as graduation caps and gowns.