Eighty students in Washington and Johnson Counties will soon have a place of their own to study at home. United Way of Johnson and Washington County has partnered with Hills Bank to build 80 desks and chairs to go to the homes of students. Director of Development, Marketing, and Communications for United Way Trisha Smith says the goal is to provide area youth a place at home to study, “And helped us to reach out to the local schools to identify kids who open the door with a backpack on their back and find maybe plastic lawn furniture as their living room furniture and don’t have a kitchen table to sit down or an island. So we’ve paired with them and they’re helping us land those desks into children’s homes.”

Hills Bank has provided the funding for the project. On Thursday, staff at Hills Bank in Washington will assemble 20 desks and chairs to be used locally. Friday, 60 more will be put together in Johnson County. Vice President of Investments, Trust and Wealth Management at Hills Bank Aaron Schaefer encourages people to find a cause and give back to the community, “I just challenge people, just think about how maybe one of those organization or an organization that United Way is involved with has touched your own life because I think you’d be surprised that it has. For me in particular, is my sister has a special needs daughter and the Arc is really instrumental.”

Both Smith and Schaefer still have their childhood desks and have passed them on to their children. This year, United Way is celebrating its 100th anniversary.